


Dreaming

by himesaan



Series: A Way of Life [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Non-Despair, Dreams and Nightmares, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Mild Language, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-25
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-02-06 04:00:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 56,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1843549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/himesaan/pseuds/himesaan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a distraction is needed and it comes, it seems good at first. Then suddenly all hell breaks loose and your trying to close the gates. It feels like a dream, how unreal things begin to unfold at a progressively fast pace. </p><p>Why can't things be simple?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Night Terrors

**Night Terrors**

**;**

 

For some odd reason he was frightened and he couldn’t run. Whether his brain shut off or he was restrained by some unknown force. 

As comical as it sounds, he remembers being put into a drill by a bear. A menacing looking cartoon bear with a half shark tooth smile and a regular bears muzzle. It laughed as it threw Souda into the drill and closed the exit shut, leaving him in temporary darkness.

Then suddenly, the insides lit up. Inside the drill were many lights and screens showing people he knew outside. His old classmates. Wait, but one person was missing, how could--?

Before he could even register the name in his mind, only remembering the face, the drill started digging into the ground. Even though the bear was outside, he could hear it laughing with more mirth. It made him shit in his pants. 

The drill made a very rigid jerk which caused his head hit what was the roof or a wall inside the metal drill, then he collided into a chair which he magically became strapped in, restricting him of any movement. It took a few seconds until he felt hot. And not in a good way. His face started burning and his skin started prickling with a weird sensation as if he put his hand in a oven.

Then it connected into his brain. A metal drill moving, him being inclosed with no windows. 

He was going underground. He was going to the Earths Core. How was this even possible?

It soon felt like hell inside. Literally. The inside of the machine caught on fire and soon Souda was burning alive, unable to do anything. Carbon Sulfide flooded his lungs which made it hard to breath, he’s pretty sure his feet are charred black...well his whole body really but his feet were just in horrible pain. He was helpless, and he didn’t know why the fuck he was here in the first place? What the hell was that bear and why was he being punished like this?

The thoughts swirled until he couldn’t think anymore. The oxygen cut off to his brain and heart completely. It took awhile for the pain to stop until there was a loud ring and his vision went black.

He knew he was dead. Until he saw the bloody, pale face of Gundam Tanaka.

Drenched in his own disgusting sweat, he shot up from his bed as a loud ass guitar riff over rided his unmanly, ear split scream.  
His roommate’s girlfriend Ibuki Mioda, busted through the door singing along with Souda and the guitar riff, spit sprinkling from mouth. That caused Souda to scream again only this time, a much higher octave (like a prepubescent girl) than the one he did before.

“Wahoooo! Souda-chan has amazing chords!” Ibuki sang swinging her arms. “C’mon! The guitar riff is still continuing!”

Souda flung the comforters over his head making a makeshift hoodie. “D-don’t fuckin’ scare me like that! Shit!”

“Huh?” Ibuki tilted her head to the side with a quizzical expression, “Ibuki thought that Souda-chan was screaming with the music!” she shouted over said music. Souda slammed the snooze button on his phone and pouted, poking his bottom lip out like a kid.

“Fuck no!” Souda wailed. “I just woke up from this horrible nightmare, and then ya’ come in screaming like a banshee!”

“Does Souda-chan want to tell Ibuki--”

“No!” Souda cut her off. “Just, leave me alone! Go bother ya’ boyfriend or something.” he tried to shoo her away but Ibuki lingered around for a little bit before singing an ‘Okay~ Ibuki will leave Souda-chan alone’, and finally exited the room.

That left a still terrified Kazuichi Souda in the middle of his shock, shaking like a underdressed prostitute into the warm summer air. It wasn’t the first time he’s had a dream about himself dying or someone he cared about…

Not one to look into symbolism of dreams (maybe he should contact Hagakure about that) but something triggered it. There was a reason he kept dreaming about death. Souda took a moment to look around his room and see if anything weird was left there, like a dreamcatcher or occult ritual type of thing. However, all he found was scraps of metal and little trinkets he half way made and then just got bored of the project quickly. 

It wasn’t too long before the door opened again, well slammed open and Leon Kuwata former underclassman and baseball player, barged in looking around like he left his whole life savings in the room. 

“What the fuck was tha’ shit earlier?” Leon shouted in aggravation as the door banged closed from force thanks to Leon barging through like the hulk.

“Wha-huh?”

“You fuckin’ screamed like someone was murderin’ you! I thought Ibuki stabbed you, but now I see you just screamed in your sleep.”

“...c’mon dude, I don’t wanna talk about it.” Souda tried removing his covers and getting up from his bed. Leon, the Athletic fuckhead he is, pushed Souda back down on the bed with ease and stood over him with his arms crossed. 

“This is the eighth time you’ve done this shit. What? You played too many horror games in the mornin’?”

Souda made a whiny noise in the back of his throat and flopped on his back facing away from Leon. “Just leave me alone dammit.”

“Something is causing you ta’ do this shit, you know, it’s not fuckin’ normal or healthy ta’ have 8 nightmares, 8 nights in a row.”

“...” Souda remained silent.

Leon clicked his barbell piercing against his teeth taking his friends silence as a time to leave. Ibuki was poking her head in but ducked when Leon turned around and started running down the hallway singing about breakfast.

“Of course it’s not normal. But what the hell am I going to do? Go see a damn doctor?”

\- x -

Against Leon’s concerns and scolding, Souda just ignored it, or tried to. He got up and did his usual routine. Went to work at his garage, repaired about 2 expensive sports cars and a tour bus for a national sports team, and then went to lunch. During the whole day he didn’t think about any of the nightmares. Not the one where he experienced Hinata Hajime being scratched out like a damn lotto ticket. Neither the nightmare, where Chiaki Nanami being squashed by a tetris block (which he thinks was caused by playing video games too late at night with said girl and Komaeda), and not even the ridiculous nightmare where before his very eyes, he saw Sonia Nevermind and Akane Owari murdered by Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu. He didn’t think the little shit had it in him till he saw the convoluted murder he plotted out, it accidentally killing those two instead.

At lunchtime, all of the nightmares came crashing down on him like a brick house, haunting his brain with the screams, the expressions, the emotions of his old classmates. Souda’s head started spinning as he stood in line to pay for his lunch. He felt his balance go off and his body tilt towards the left. A taller body had pushed or nudged him to stand upright, gently. Souda was rather taken aback at how gentle a push could be and went to thank the person.

Right when he turned his head and was about to mutter a thank you, his words went dead in his mouth and thankfully the nightmares completely spilled out his brain like pudding. 

It was Gundam Tanaka in his proud honor. Head tilted up, eyes casted down, looking just as weird yet handsome (dammit how the fuck does he pull that off?). Souda sat there like a gaping fish until the silence was broken with a dark, low chuckle.

“Tch. You mortals can’t even stand on your own feet...” Gundam had a twisted grin on his face as he spouted out his sentence, looking at Souda with amusement. The latter stayed in place with his jaw still slackened, unable to utter a single damn word.

“...Gundam, uhhh...” he tried incoherently, but was interrupted. 

“Yes that is my name mortal. Why do you speak of me so casually?”

‘Oh fuck.’ “Do ya uh, remember me?” Souda hesitated to ask suddenly shy instead of shocked to see the face of the guy he saw with a bloody face in his nightmare.

Non-existent eyebrows drew inward. For a second Souda thought Gundam was laughing internally until the other looked off to the side and muttered a quiet and deep ‘yes’. 

“Ah okay, so it’s a little less awkward. Heh.” Gundam stared at Souda intently waiting for more to be added to his statement. Awkwardly enough, nothing was. Just silence. 

At the opportune time, Souda heard a loud ‘next’ and turned towards the register. He paid for his food quickly but lingered around when Gundam paid for his vegetarian lunch (just a salad with vegetable toppings of course) and walked away from the counter briskly, like he was in a hurry. Souda knew why but didn’t stop himself from following and catching up to the Animal Breeder. 

Gundam has always shut himself off from people ultimately, but it wasn’t like he was mean or anything, he was just...withdrawn. Often at school people thought he was weird yet the way he dealt with animals and communicated with them was either considered cool or cute. That was the only contributing factor to his popularity. Other than that, he was just some weird goth kid who thought he could do sorcery and was ruler of Ice and called his hamsters dark lords. Souda didn’t think any of that though, okay, Gundam is a little weird but it’s endearing. 

During school he had been so blindsided by his crush on Sonia Nevermind (probably the most beautiful woman he’s seen in his life) that his advances became altered and getting to know the Animal Breeder was at a limited time. However, he knew that he had some interest in the guy but didn’t exactly know why he had the interest. Back then, he suspected it was just to tease him further or just resolve in his mind why Sonia liked hanging around him so much (she was so infatuated by Gundam it was like they were dating) but now it’s clear, it was simple attraction. Souda realized he was attracted to Gundam as well almost like Sonia stalking him. He was attracted mentally, emotionally and later, physically. The weird two different eye colors became attractive, soon the white streaked black hair, and the contrast with his pale skin. All fell into place, and quiet as kept, it was rather the opposite on how he saw and became attracted with Sonia. It was the physical first, then all the rest later. 

In high school, it was futile to talk with the man because he seemed stuck in his ways. Consistently talking about his Dark Gods of Destruction or ranting about his dark powers and poisonous skin, constantly belittling people. However, once they got out of high school and Souda started working a few doors down from the pet shop he works at, he realized there was a lot more to Gundam than he had thought.

He can actually be a conversational guy, he’s watched a few people from his old high school and returning customers walk into the pet shop and hold lengthy conversations with him. He’s even talked to the guy on numerous occasions, but of course they were very short altercations, like “hey, how are ya’?”, “Fine on this sunny wondrous day!”, “Mm! Damn, great! Well, I’ll see ya’ later!” That was Souda’s fault for cutting that convo short. He sort of had no choice since he bit the shit out of his tongue and blood was beginning to seep out of his mouth. 

Each time Souda gets better, less of a wreck who consistently turns every conversation into one between bros…

Wait, that’s what he wants right? A broship?

…

“Souda, are you following me?”

Without really thinking, his feet stopped in place and his jaw fell open. ‘Oh shit’. Hesitantly he looked up to see Gundam staring straight at him with the container of lettuce in his hand. Souda opted to look at the lettuce and make a nervous laugh, “Haha, oops. I didn’t mean to.” ‘Poor excuse, poor excuse, add more so you don’t look like a fuckin’ tool.’ “Oh, well actually, I have a question.”

There was silence for a second, Souda reflexively grabbed for his beanie and tugged it down over his eyebrows expecting to suddenly be rejected for conversation.

“Ask then.” Gundam declared in a low baritone. 

Relieved, Souda let go of his beanie and stood up straighter giving a small smile. Until he realized, what the hell was he going to ask about? Not the weather again. ‘Fuck, I digged a hole, I should’ve left it like how it was earlier. Okay I need to get the hell out of here before I embarrass myself.’ Souda smiled a bit too bright and superficially setting up to try and make his escape as less awkward as it is already. “Uhm, what type of animal should I get?” ‘Hold up, what the fuck? Why did I say that? God damn, so much for trying to escape!’ 

Gundam’s eyes lit up as he put a hand to his chin. A craze smile that Souda knew too well twisted on his lips when he removed the hand. “You will have to come inside if you want to find the perfect pet for you, me simply telling you what you should get is careless.”

Souda nodded falling into conversation quickly. “Y-yeah, that makes sense.”

Gundam glanced at Souda briefly before turning around and walking into the pet shop. Souda followed suite, actually interested in what Gundam had up his sleeve. 

The bell chimed when they both walked in and Souda couldn’t feel anymore on edge.

After all these years he has never walked into this place, but here he was standing in the pet shop. 

Nervously, Souda stood by a huge cage and sighed rather loud. Gundam must be sound sensitive because he turned around and looked at Souda with curiosity. “Is something unsettling you?”

Souda leaped up and let out some weird Hanamura nervous laugh, “Ah, no, I’m just a little..tired…” ‘Tired of looking like a goddamn lovefool.’ He thought bitterly glaring at a empty glass case.

Gundam looked at Souda again like how he did before they walked in the shop. Like he saw through him but didn’t want to comment on it. Very quickly thankfully, his attention was taken off when he heard chirping by his ear. Maga-G, still alive and well ran up to Gundam’s devil dog earring and began what Souda believe is communicating. Gundams eyes lit up and he began chuckling to himself before taking the container of lettuce and opening it. his eyes were gentle but his laugh was a little rough, Souda wasn’t sure if him laughing to himself was a good or bad thing. Nevertheless, it all gave him time to calm his nerves and stop fidgeting in the middle of all these animals. 

“Souda, you wanted me to acclimate you with an appropriate furry companion right?” Souda literally leaped up in his shoes when Gundam off handedly used his name. Gundam usually calls people ‘mortals’ or ‘something-one’. But this time it was on purpose. Souda’s pink contacts lit up and he began grinning like a dumbass. 

Gundam furrowed his eyebrows in slight amusement of Souda’s reaction. “Fine, I take that as a yes.” 

Souda made a sound of objection, but it died in his throat when he saw Gundam begin to feed Maga-G a dried piece of fruit, completely abandoning his lunch to feed the hamster. Souda was dumbfounded, no, not dumbfounded, he was mesmerized by how fucking adorable the scene in front of him was. Who the hell cannot like this? If Souda had a camera, he’d whip it out and take quick shots, but since you’re not allowed to do that inside the store that idea was abandoned. He didn’t want a cute moment to all of the sudden turn into a fearsome scolding from the owner. 

So he opted to just sit there and watch until Gundam said something or did something else. Which he did, noticing how creepy and quiet Souda was acting. “Souda...are you alright?” he turned his one red eye towards the antsy mechanic. 

Souda let out a nervous laugh, a very nervous laugh and scratched the back of his fabric covered head looking up at Gundam shyly. “Oh,” he started scratching his chin, “I-I-I didn’t mean t-to space off, I was just sort of going through my next line up of fix ups.” he lied, very badly, with stuttering and everything else you can do bad under the damn sun. Shit, Souda just wanted to spontaneously combust after uttering whatever the hell he just did and not give a shit because little bits of him will be scattered everywhere meaning immediate death.

However it was hard because Gundam acted like it didn’t happen, giving Souda false hope of not making himself look stupid as hell. Very calmly, the raven haired man nodded but then turned fully towards Souda with focused eyes and a gentle smile. Souda groaned inwardly at the man’s handsome smile. “Very well then, if you would like to look for your companion another time when you are feeling up to it---”

“NO!” Souda belted out cutting off the animal breeder. The taller of the two widened his eyes in surprise. “W-we can do it now…” Souda started. “I’m sure he’s standing here in this room.”

It took awhile for the reaction to surface, but when it did Souda coulda died in a drill going into earths core. Gundam lifted his patterned purple scarf over his face and muttered an, “Oh gods.” Turning away slowly from Souda like he had just been disturbed out of his mind. When at all that wasn’t it, he just read too much into what was just said to him. 

“Uhm…wait...uh...” Evidently, Souda got nervous like a shy school boy confessing to the popular girl and pulled his beanie over his eyes. He could see a little bit so he could manage with walking around half blindly. Souda began to back out of the shop, completely done. He just fucked it up even more than he thought was possible. “O-on second thought, I uh, really need to uhm, I finna eat my sandwich and...yeah, I’ll s-see ya around Gun-uh, I mean Tanaka.” Then the pet shop door closed a little too hard, leaving a strong gust of wind to blow through the room. 

That certainly was not a rational way for Gundam to react but he couldn’t do much about it, could he? Souda said something a little suggestive, then realized what he had done and bolted out like his pants unbuttoned by itself and fell down. 

As cool as Gundam Tanaka could, still wondering what the hell exactly happened and wondering how a mortal could make such a normal encounter strange, he flipped the closed sign to the open side and went to feed his Dark Gods of Destruction absently. With an arm propped up on the counter and staring out the window not watching what he was doing, he accidentally shoved a piece of carrot into Chum-P’s mouth, almost choking it. 

Meanwhile, Souda booked it to his shop so fast he might’ve rivaled Sonic the Hedgehog. Embarrassed tears stinging his eyes. Man, way to go gear head.

When he got home, he was greeted with silence, which was good. Last thing he needed was Leon suddenly bugging him about his day or whatever the hell upset him. The guy sort of had a sixth sense, or he just knew Souda well enough to know when something is up. 

Content with the silence in the room, or rather home. Souda lazily, plopped down on the couch in the living room emotionally and physically exhausted from his day. He wanted to take a nap, but when the thought crossed his mind he immediately remembered those horrible nightmares. 

Souda gave out a frustrated grunt opening his eyes and just sat there, staring at the blank television screen. 

‘God dammit. So all that was really for nothing?’


	2. Low Shoulder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leon is a bad cook.  
> Souda accidentally gets invited to a party.

**Low Shoulder**

;

Last night was shitty for Souda for lack of better terms. First of all, Leon Kuwata, the most disruptive roommate ever, woke him up thirty minutes after he fell asleep with his drunk ass banter. Along his side was his shaky and sober programmer friend Chihiro Fujisaki, and his best friend Mondo Oowada. Both of the muscular men were drunk out of their flipping conscious, leaving a quiet Chihiro tending to the two drunkards. Souda empathized with Chihiro, which caused him to help tend to the two men along their side. Thankfully the drunkards slipped into the world of unconscious quicker than expected. Dropping down on the couch or bed. The rest of the night, Souda spent time chatting idly with the programmer in the living room before said person fell asleep while talking. That's when Souda retired to bed after throwing a blanket over Chihiro and stared at the ceiling until he went to sleep.... 

The next morning, Souda woke up to Leon singing along to The Clash, really loud in his bedroom. His door must've been open for him to hear every single lyric uttered. 

Groggily mumbling under his breath, Souda sat up in his bed and rubbed at his face as the punk rock blasted from the sound system (Souda modified it to be really, really loud so the music sounded clear like it was live). When the song ended, Leon let out a very loud "YEAH", that almost made Souda shit in his pants. The mechanic got up from his bed and walked down the hallway to see what the hell was going on. Leon was actually singing in the kitchen. But that wasn't the weird part, what was weird was the fact that he was cooking. Souda had to take a double take to make sure that what he was seeing was real. 

"Ahh, mornin' Sou." Leon strung out groggily, flipping an egg, well what resembled an egg, it looked more like a burnt piece of yellow and white shit than a fried egg. In response, Souda rubbed his face with his hands again and mumbled a 'morning' before plopping down in a chair. It was a rarity to see Leon cook, but whatever, I guess the guy had his reasons.

"Uhm, are ya' okay? You were really drunk last night..." Souda trailed off staring at the table.

Leon scoffed, "Yeah I have a huge hangover, but, I'm fuckin' hungry. My stomach ain't gonna feed itself."

"Yeah, I'm sure as hell not finna cook." Souda mumbled staring absently at the stove. Now he wondered, when the hell did they have eggs? Now that he thinks about it, they barely have food like that in the fridge.

"Exactly." Leon chuckled waving the spatula. Souda made a weak laugh, before Mondo came barging in the kitchen looking like a mess, eyeliner smudged, pompadour all messed up, eyes bloodshot red. Leon had made himself something to eat but nobody else, that topic ensued a quick argument between the two pertaining to Leon's selfishness. Souda was surprised Leon even knew how to cook. However, that didn't mean his cooking was good, Mondo should be grateful Leon didn't cook shit for him. 

"Where's Chihiro?" 

"On the couch." Leon mumbled. Mondo took off towards the living room like a bat out of hell, while Souda remained spaced out, staring at the stove. 

"Yo, Sou...are you going to work or what?"

Souda snapped out of his thoughts immediately and slapped his forehead. "Ah damn you're right, I guess I'll go now." 

"Shit man, tha' fuck is up with you?"

"...nothing. Just spaced out for a sec."

Leon gave a lingering stare at Souda before turning back to his bacon. "Whatever, just take it easy bro."

"...yeah." Souda mumbled walking back to his bedroom shaking his head vigorously. If it was possible, Souda’s shoulders slumped even further down when he looked over at his beanie. He wasn’t really in the mood to do anything right now. Yesterday was bad enough with the long list of unfortunate events that involved a mechanic and an animal breeder. ‘Dear god’. Souda grimaced openly putting on his jumpsuit, no, he more writhed in pain remembering how he acted like a complete utter fool. Just stupid. Stupid. What was he thinking? Sneaking in a stupid, weird, creepy pick up line on probably an asexual guy. Hell, if Gundam wasn’t asexual before, he might be now after what Souda said. 

Suddenly, there was a low growl behind him, and Souda turned around. Chuck Mondo's Maltese was sitting on his bed. 

"When the fuck did he get here?" 

Dammit, he doesn’t want a bed smelling like dog.

Heh, like the smell of motor oil and sweat is any better…

-x- 

Souda speed walked past the pet shop since it was a few buildings down from his own. He did not even want to see Gundam and do something even dumber. Though, that left an open end, and no solution. As well as unconfessed feelings and probably a dying what Souda assumed was a relationship/friendship? All in all, avoiding any conversation and/or encounters with the guy seemed good for now.

So for the next couple of days Souda ignored everything about said person that he could. However, the nightmares were still there, still very bad and well, actually progressively getting worse than what he could imagine. He at least dreamt of Gundam getting killed by a stampede of animals twice, then after that he oddly had a dream of Hanamura getting fried in a volcano...how is that even possible? Who the hell knows. How could a stuffed bear move and laugh on its own? His dreams were like on shrooms or something.

But that wasn’t the disturbing part, it was the last nightmare that had him in terror. It was a progressive, realistic nightmare of him killing Gundam in the most excruciating way he could think of. Souda couldn't even imagine himself ever thinking of something so gruesome, but here he was, dreaming of it like the thought passed his mind multiple times a day.

Thats when Hinata Hajime or “Soul Friend” was spammed with 5,000 text messages in one single day. Not literally but damn near close. 

The usual temperate Hinata had enough of the buzzing of his phone. He groaned out loud throwing his head back before slamming in a very angry misspelled “WAHT DO U WANT?” text to Souda, ignorant of his friends inner turmoil.

Like it could get better, his ringtone blared right after the message was sent. Hinata could have strangled a bunny at this point and raised his arm to throw his phone across the room, but Komaeda wasn't for that, and gave a menacing glare with his mouth turned into a perfect line with his visible mental instability reading across his face. Like anything else Hinata did distasteful in that exact moment would make Komaeda blow up their shared apartment and walk out laughing. Not having much of a choice if he didn’t want to face Komaeda’s wrath, very carefully, Hinata took in three deep breaths, trying to calm himself even though his ringtone was blaring like hell. Gingerly, he slid to answer and then raised the phone up to his ear.

…

“...”

“...”

“...Hin-”

“HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES ARE YOU GOING TO BLOW UP MY PHO-”

“Hinata, calm down.” Komaeda said very sternly like he had his finger on the detonator. Hinata growled like Mondo’s dog.

“What the hell man? Why are ya’ ignoring me?”

Hinata sighed and leaned back in his seat. “Drop it, anyways what’s up?”

“What do ya’ mean drop--” Souda backtracked then let out a long exhale himself before he made a fuck shit stack. “Nevermind, did you even read any of my texts?”

“No.” Hinata deadpanned. 

Souda sighed, “Did you even glan-”

“I didn’t look at any of your texts.” Hinata cut the other off, sounding about through with Souda’s crazy crap. Souda could hear it, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to bug the guy, there was a time where Hinata would bug Souda about Komaeda and their mishaps. Man, it felt like it was yesterday when Hinata was disturbed yet turned on by the emaciated freak.

Souda shuddered on the thought, but he was still focused on the task at hand, which was his problems. “I really need to talk to ya’.” he spat out, his cheek uncomfortably pressed against the phone like any seperation from the device would kill him. 

“We’re on the phone right now. Talk.”

“No. I mean in person, I just feel awkward over the phone.” Hinata raised an eyebrow and looked sideways at Komaeda before awkwardly shifting in his seat, the latter tilted his head to the side, narrowing his eyes. What the hell happened to Souda now? They both thought.

“Uhm, okay?” 

“You home?”

“Yeah.” 

And then the dial went off. Hinata slid hid finger across 'end' and lowered his phone looking at the wall in front of him. 

“What was that about?” 

“Who the fuck knows.” the brunette cursed scratching his head. 

“I hope he doesn’t drag you out to a bar again…” Komaeda mumbled looking to the side putting a hand to his chin. “You know with my luck it’ll probably happen, then I’ll have to pick you up at the police of-”

“Don’t remind me.” Hinata grimaced. Instead of retorting to his obviously irritated boyfriend, Komaeda hummed and looked at the television screen absently.

-x- 

Souda was curled up in comfy chair with his thin yellow hood pulled over his head. Hinata never seen anyone look so bad in his life. He was even surprised that this person was even Souda.

The latter came in all bothered and frantic like he was an inmate just released out of jail. His hair was a mess, such a mess he had to put it in a low ponytail to make himself look less, raggedy. Then his eyes, Souda’s eyes were soulless, like, nobody was even inside and he was being operated by some kind of plug like a robot. 

Hinata was disturbed as well as Komaeda, who ducked out the room as fast as he could displaying a polite ‘good evening’. 

With a shocking start thanks to Souda's appearance, the evening had started off awkwardly, but Hinata was willing to make up for it. “Uh, do you need tea?” Hinata tried to be hospitable, but he probably ended up sounding unsure and just full of shit. He wasn’t, honestly. He was in a weird situation. A few couple minutes ago he was cursing the dude out on the phone like he had more bullshit, but seeing the current state of his friend, now he feels bad. Souda is a mess and he has no idea what he should do to help clean up this mess, let alone what even caused it. Komaeda was out for the night, he had planned some kind of outing with Tsumiki weeks prior. So there was no scapegoat if things got awkward. It simply left Hinata staring at a ball of black and yellow. Well, now that he looks at Souda closely, he sort of looks like pikachu.

“You know those nightmares I told you about a while ago?” Souda started spontaneously.

Hinata crossed his legs feeling like a psychiatrist, “...Uh-huh.” Hinata prompted Souda to continue.

“Well, they came back, and not only that...but they got worst.”

“What the hell happened to you?” 

Souda deflated into the chair, erupting a loud groan. “Dude...they’re really bad.” he started shakily, and a tad bit insecure talking about it. But he knew he had to tell him for his visit would sort of be pointless. He started, “Our old class were dropping like flies, people kept getting killed in ridiculous methods,” he paused, “They keep getting more detailed, realistic, and more of them involve me as a culprit. The last few dreams I’ve had...I killed Gundam in three of them…all different methods.”

“Wow.” Hinata put a hand over his mouth. “Damn, that’s bad. What the hell? You hate him that much still? He’s a decent guy under it all.”

That’s when Souda stopped talking and backtracked. He forgot. He never told Hinata his feelings for Gundam ever. Hell, he didn’t tell anyone, but he would be the first person. All confidence in this subject dissipated as Souda looked at Hinata with wide eyes. There was no way in hell he would tell him. Ready to drop the subject after his question was answered, Souda squinted his hot pink eyes, “You never told me you were friends with him.” he said lowly, almost like he was jealous. 

Hinata shook his head and waved his hand dismissively, “Nah, I’m not friends with him. I just know him and had a few conversations with him, that’s all, it’s Komaeda whose friends with him and drags me to that pet store, keeps bugging me about getting a pet...”

‘Oh thank god, that’s a little better.’ Souda thought to himself looking at the ground collecting his thoughts. 

“So uh, what’s the deal with him?”

“Uhh, nothing…” Souda backtracked. 

Hinata raised his eyebrow and analyzed his friend like a suspicious suspect. “Nothing my ass.” he sighed.

Souda sighed not even trying to put up a fight. At this point nothing was going to be too bad, right? “Fine I’ll just tell you…it’s Gundam...he...well...I feel...” 

Out of nowhere, the front door banged open, and a shrill wail was heard. Instantly, Hinata shot up from his seat and ran across the living room to the front door. When he made it there he let out a long line of curses. That reminded Souda of the morning Leon barged in like Donkey Kong on crack. Another wail was heard and a second voice was heard and it was Nanami scolding Hinata for being so aggressive to his peers. Then it exploded into a confrontation, there was a ton of commotion and too many voices Souda thought he had turned into Charles Xavier. A loud, breathless laugh erupted and cut the madness in half giving a moment of silence for people to recollect their composure.

At this point, Souda wasn't sure if he should stay or go. But he figured checking whatever the hell was going on out would be better, it seemed like quite a fuss. So he got up from his seat and walked over only to see a bunch of people with Komaeda in the mess laughing like a little kid being tickled. 

“What the fuck is this?” Hinata shouted arms violently thrusting in the air. 

Komaeda let out a raspy laugh and put a hand to his head. “Oh thought I’d surprise you guys, Souda looked so full of despair when he came over, so Mikan had an idea of getting everyone together to give him hope!”

A voice came from the ground, "A-a-actually we planned this before since everyone was in town, so w-we figured to surprise you and Souda...I-I'm sorry if I made you mad! I'm so selfish for doing this!" Tsumiki out loud throwing her head back, making gross sobs. 

Souda peaked around Hinata and saw why he was pissed off, there was a shit ton of drunk or emotional people stumbling into their apartment, completely invading privacy. “Why the fuck?” Hinata strangled down another line of curses but stopped when Tsumiki got up from the ground with Nanami’s help. 

“Hinata! It was a surprise, don't yell at people trying to make you happy!” Koizumi shouted angrily, always the first to defend someones feelings.

“Don’t bullshit me, I’ve...why did you guys do this?”

“I already told you why I did it!” Komaeda’s tone was still much less aggressive than Hinata’s, he was so calm. He sounded exactly like Hinata’s spit wasn’t flying in his face and he didn’t bring a bunch of people over unexpectedly.

"Komaeda, don't give me this shit! You know me well enough that I don't like surprises!"

"Maybe that's why you're so god damn boring." Kuzuryuu quipped from the back of the crowd.

"I agree." Komaeda laughed, his eyes lit up in mirth.

Nanami stepped between the two and sighed. “Okay. That’s enough, you two shouldn’t fight here.” she pointed her finger up silencing them both. Hinata gave Komaeda one last glare before he stomped off to his or their bedroom. 

Saionji began laughing out the word ‘bitch’ after pushing Tsumiki out the way, Koizumi rolled her eyes but stayed behind to go scold Kuzuryuu. The blonde girl cackled at Hinata’s outburst throwing a arm around Nanami's shoulder. “Hey, big bro Komaeda…” the one called to turned around and looked down at the short girl. Her lips curled up, “You’re going to have to suck Big bro Hinata’s dick real good to make him forgive you!”

At that, everyone within hearing vicinity stopped their chatting and began spluttering or giggling as the little evil blonde laughed hysterically. Meanwhile, Komaeda dashed off to the bedroom like he was a rocket.

Now, it was time for Souda to leave. Hinata ran out, Komaeda chased him to do whatever to make it up to his upset boyfriend, and he was left with his classmates, some of which he hasn't talked to since the graduation party. His whole purpose was to tell Hinata his problem but it seemed like that wasn’t going to happen soon. And he sure as hell didn’t want anyone else to see him in his horrible state.

So as quickly as he could, Souda weaved in and out of the people Komaeda brought, his hood high over his head, shielding this baggy eyes. Damn Komaeda, how did he get everybody together? No, how did him and Tsumiki get everyone together? And why? This was so unlike them. Neither of the two never really hung out with a lot of people, so why suddenly were they bringing people over randomly late at night? Souda took a peek at someones face and realized that it wasn’t just random people, these were all students at Hopes Peak even people who were in the grade below him. Was this some kind of reunion? What was this shit? He didn't see everyone though, including Leon, Mondo, Ibuki and that really huge prick named Byakuya Togami (of course he wouldn't show up to something like this), and that's naming the few faces that stand out to him. He's pretty sure it wasn't everyone though.

"Ayye!" Things got bad when he saw the model Junko Enoshima tackled Hifumi Yamada screaming something about Re-Dead sucking his hearts. Then Ishimaru Kiyotaka started yelling about not jumping on a guys back with a short skirt on, and flung Junko off of Hifumi like she was a feather. He dodged a flying beer bottle that was thrown in Kiyotaka's direction, it was Junko's sister Mukuro who apparently got pissed off at the action and wanted to fight the policeman. There was so much crap going on, it was like everyone reverted back to their high school selves and let lose in Hinata and Komaeda's apartment. 

Souda didn't want any parts of this quagmire, so he headed towards the door as inconspicuously as he could, trying to move against the current of the crowd. Just as Souda squeezed between a yelling Nidai who managed to take up the whole entrance next to a drink guzzling, perverted Hanamura, a hand tapped him on the shoulder. Very hesitantly, Souda looked over. 

His eyes widened when he saw who it was and the person’s lips curled into a sweet smile. 

“Souda! I haven’t seen you in forever!” 

Sonia Nevermind’s bright blue eyes were shining, and her long lashes kept fluttering with every second wasted with silence. "Son--?" Before Souda could even manage to have a complete response, the princess pulled him into a tight hug, rocking him side to side. ‘Oh, now you wanna hug me tight when I look like shit?’ when she released him, she looked at Souda with a smile which quickly faded. 

“Oh my! Souda, are you okay? You look like you swallowed a sea lion!”

"Wait what?" Souda asked but then remembered that still after all this time Sonia hasn't brushed up on her Japanese sayings. He sighed and looked to the side, “I am sick.” he curtly replied not really wanting for any more interaction with anybody from his class. Sonia quickly gained her smile back and put her hand in front of her. 

“You must get better then! Here! Have some of this elixir!” with an eager expression, Sonia dug her hand into the bag she had around her shoulder and pulled out a expensive looking bottle of wine. “This will help you feel better and enjoy the...moment!”

Souda took a step back, “Whoa, are you tryin' to get me drunk?”

“No, I’m trying to get you to drink this delicious Ethanol!” she flexed her arm with eagerness smiling brightly and innocently, like she didn't plan on getting Souda drunk and she was offering him apple juice.

“...” Souda's jaw slackened.

“...” Sonia kept smiling.

“Why?” Souda asked scrunching his eyebrows.

Sonia’s smile grew brighter and she stood up straighter, posing with the wine bottle. “This is for you and I to share, from the vineyards of Novoselic's finest grapes. California has nothing on our hella fine wine! Truly every person on earth should have a taste before they die!” 

Souda just blinked repeatedly, Sonia hummed until a large glass was shoved in his hand and Sonia began pouring him a generous amount of the ‘hella fine wine’. Souda was more of a beer guy, but whatever, alcohol was alcohol right? He took a large gulp and immediately felt his head spinning like a record. The drink was potent as hell! 

“Whoa, this is strong!”

“But delicious isn’t it?”

“Uhm...y-yeah.” Souda took another gulp which made Sonia grin crazily already having her own glass in her hand. He was feeling a little better but he knew he looked like shit. It didn’t matter, the drink was good and that is all that mattered. 

After he finished the first glass quickly and Sonia poured him more, he felt a little tipsy and needed to sit down. So, he excused himself from their conversation about lord knows what, and took a seat on the couch. Already buzzed, he leaned his head back or tried to, but someones big butt rubbed against his head which made him sit up and groan in disgust. A soft laugh erupted next to him, and he saw Pekoyama softly chuckling at his expression with a glass in her hand. Kuzuryuu was sitting next to her guzzling down another glass of wine smiling into the rim. Maybe Sonia brought 'hella' wine, her plan was probably to get everyone drunk so they could get along. He didn’t really feel like talking to anyone overall, but everyone seemed like they wanted to talk to him, so why not? He involved himself in a surprisingly pleasant conversation with the Yakuza member and the Swordswoman before Peko declared she had to use the restroom and Kuzuryuu followed. Souda drew his eyebrows inward but let the two go. Did Kuzuryuu start protecting Peko or what?

Overall, he was content sitting on the couch listening to the buzz around him. No one else seemed to notice how shitty Souda looked, which was good. They probably didn't care that much anyways. His former classmates were interesting though, they seemed to hold onto their uniqueness and manifest it into something great, that can potentially change the world. Souda though, felt like he wash't really progressing and manifesting whatever he had. Sure he was one of the best mechanics in the world but, something was holding him back from being just...great like his peers.

Interrupting his thoughts, a very familiar voice caught his attention. At first, he thought his ears decieved him, however all was not in doubt when he looked to his left and saw the last person he wanted to see especially in his current state. If Sonia wasn’t bad enough, well it got worst.

It was Gundam of course. Casually, he had sat next to Souda on the couch, nothing in his hand, he didn’t even have a drink. Eventually someone passed by and handed him a drink, he accepted it and looked peculiarly at it before putting it on the coffee table in front of him. Gundam never crossed Souda as the type to drink anyways. 

Souda hadn't realized it, but he scooted and curled away from Gundam like he had the plague. Gundam seemed to not have noticed that notion, however, he didn't completely ignore the mechanic altogether.

“Souda are you okay, you look unwell...” His heterochromic eyes fixated on Souda like they were in a middle of conversation and Souda tuned out. Souda had put a hand to his forehead and started muttering something about the engine in his head about to blow up. He jolted up in his seat when a hand had grabbed his shoulder. 

“Souda?”

Reddening, Souda nervously laughed, “Eh, nothing I uhm...just a little lightheaded.” he turned around in his seat and looked for whatever scapegoat he could find. This was going to end up like last time. Awkward encounters for days with this guy. 

“You might want to lay down.” Gundam reeled Souda's attention back to their current conversation and was successful doing so. When he commented about Souda not looking well, he was actually talking about Souda’s whole appearance but decided not to press further, he looked fragile at the moment and wasn't too close to even begin to ask why did he look like he was being haunted by aggressive ghosts.

Souda scoffed through now chapped lips and rolled his droopy eyes at the suggestion. The alcohol definitely has him more careless and impulsive than what he would be sober. “Nah, Komaeda and Hinata are probably doin’ some shit right now, wouldn’t want to interrupt.”

Gundam’s eyebrows furrowed, “Yes you are right, that would be most unwise.”

"Unless you want to join them."

Gundam looked at Souda for a second, Souda bit his lip at his perverted comment. Before he could take back what he said, Gundam let out a deep laugh and turned his head away from the mechanic. Souda started laughing himself, his laughs were erratic and high pitch compared to the animal breeders, but it didn't matter, they were both laughing at something together. 

Then, the laughter died, and silence fell between the two, neither really had a distraction. Souda stared at Gundam for a very long time and vice versa. It was like in those romantic comedies before that surprising huge kiss. However, in Souda’s case, he didn’t want that to happen, this was like, really awkward. He looked down at his glass and realized nothing was left for him to gain liquid courage. Damn, time for a refill. 

“Shit, I’m finna refill this, I’ll be back.” He doesn’t know why but leaving Gundam alone hurt him inside. The other nodded stiffly before turning his attention to the short guy next to him, who was really drunk. Apparently Naegi had too many drinks and was chatting loudly about his confidential case to a group of his peers. 

Souda stumbled to where a bunch of bottles were on a table. He was looking for the specific special wine Sonia brought but only found the other ones that seemed more common. He was a little frustrated when he couldn’t find it, but overall would be happy to find any alcohol.

“Souda…” Hinata’s voice sounded next to him, the pink haired mechanic shrieked and turned around to face the taller brunette. 

“Whoa! Where’d ya’ come from?”

“This is my home. And I never left.”

“Whatever, man. ” The shorter’s eyes traveled up to the taller ones head and started laughing. “Holy shit, your hair is a mess! What the fuck did Komaeda do to you?”

Hinata’s face went red, “S-shut up!” he shouted, “One to talk, you look like shit too!”

“That’s confirmed. That’s been confirmed. You on the other hand…” Souda started.

“Shut the fuck up.” Hinata grumbled. “Anyways, this is not why I came over here…”

“Then why did ya’?” Souda became the bitchy one all of the sudden. Hinata grinned. 

“I pieced together what you said earlier to what I just saw…”

“...what?” Souda started slowly. “What did ya’ see?”

“I mean, you could’ve told me you liked him the whole time. I mean, I knew it was sexual tension the whole time but wow, you guys had a moment on the couch just now and that confirmed EVERYTHING…”

Souda’s jaw could’ve hit the ground. “Who the fuck ya’ talkin’ about?”

“Gundam.” Hinata deadpanned.

Souda slapped both his hands on Hinata’s mouth and pushed him in the kitchen. Inside the kitchen was Tsumiki who was asleep on the counter curled in a ball. So it was basically like no one was listening, which was good.

Hinata slapped Souda’s hand off of his mouth and grunted. “I was right then…”

“Don’t tell a soul!”

“Why?” 

“Gundammit, I didn’t want this to come out.”

“Gundammit?” Hinata repeated. “Wow, now he’s an expression?”

Souda was still drunk but sobering up a little. He hated that he was but it was better than saying something stupid in inebriation. So when Hinata repeated his sentence, Souda face palmed himself so hard, his skull might’ve cracked. “No...I just...damn, the fuck did I just say?”

“I’m not going to tell him…or anybody.”

“...”

“We’re soul brothers, why the hell would I do that?”

“Ya’ serious?”

Hinata nodded. “Yeah because you did the same with me back then...remember?”

Remembering, Souda nodded. “Yeah, I did.”

Hinata clamped a comforting hand on Souda’s shoulder, “Just chill out a little bit, take care of yourself again cause you look like shit, and take each day by a time.”

Souda gave a pathetic laugh, “...wow, our roles reversed didn’t they?”

Hinata sighed, “...yeah…”

“...Hm, maybe this all will help with the nightmares…I should probably tell Hagakure about those even though he has a 30% chance of bein’ legit…” Souda sighed, “I just want to know what the hell they mean...”

“You know he prices high right?”

“Whatever, I’ll get Leon to beat him down for a lower price, hell even free.”

“Yeah…” Hinata muttered his mind sort of somewhere else.

A very loud clanging of bottles startled the two men, shaking them out of their stupor. Hinata, being the more astute one whipped his head around to see that Tsumiki vanished from her spot. Hinata shook his head and sighed at the broken bottles on the floor. 

“Fuck, I need to clean this shit up. Man these people are messy.”

“Good luck with that.”

“...Heh…yeah…I guess.”

“I’m going to go back now...Gundam is probably waiting for me…”

“Oh, you told him to wait for you?”

“Yeah...heh…” Souda blushed, “I dunno what I’m going to say now that I’m more sober and my excuse was to get a drink…”

“Kiss him and apologize.” Hinata deadpanned. 

Souda blushed walking out the door pulling at his braid. “Stop. That’s not even being realistic.” he forced a smile even though the thought just made him feel even more nervous. Hinata’s chuckle lingered for a while until Akane ran into the kitchen and bodyslammed him like a WWE wrestler.

Albeit, Souda walked back into the living room. There were less people inside, so that meant some of them went home already. However, he didn’t see Gundam on the couch like before, a little part of Souda died inside. It wasn’t like his conversation with Hinata was that long. What made him impatient? Did something come up?

Not to mention that, but Sonia was gone as well…

…

Souda’s mind was reeling and he kept making up different scenarios that would piss him off. He stood in place for a few minutes waiting for the animal breeder to materialize out of thin air. It never happened of course, which made the pink haired man feel even worst. Soon, the remnants of alcohol in his system started to make him emotional and Souda began to tear up. He didn’t want to wipe the tears that hung on the corners of his eyes so he tried to blink them away, preventing them from falling anymore. 

“Hey, Souda, why are you standing here?” Hinata’s voice came up from behind him suddenly. He refused to turn around and quickly he headed for the front door so no one could see him like this. 

“Souda, whoa, what the hell?”

Souda reflexively pulled his yellow hood over his head and faked a nasty gag, “I’m just really sick, I need to go home.” Souda pretended to sound like he wasn’t crying, but the drowned out sobs were evident in his voice. He told himself he wouldn’t look or start acting like a middle school boy getting rejected by their crush.

Hinata didn’t hesitate and spat out, “You can stay here if you like. Trust me, we have more than enough room to accommodate you, I don't want you driving under the influence.”

Souda’s hand was already turned on the door knob, he was ready to just leave and go home. He appreciated Hinata's kind gesture, but he just needed to leave the scenery for awhile. Trying not to completely flip out on his best friend and managing to keep his cool for a little longer, Souda looked back and gave a broken smile to his friend, “...no I’m fine, I should get home, I’ll see ya’.” then he slipped his skinny body through the door and closed it firmly, leaving no more room for argument. Souda let out a sigh of relief before quickly making his way to the elevator to exit the building.

When he got outside the complex, he took a huge deep breath to calm himself. He told himself over and over to calm down, and was quite proud when he controlled his tears. He still felt a tinge of anger and frustration at his heart, but he knew he had to get himself in check if he were to drive home. Souda, with a shaky stride, he walked down the street to his car hugging himself in the eerily, cold summer night air. The only sound being his short breaths and the padding of his bright converse on the concrete beneath him.

-x- 

Souda walked into his apartment feeling a little better. He didn't realize how late, or early it was until he looked at the clock in the kitchen that reminded him it was 1 AM. Time flew by. He expressed a heavy exhale as he walked down the hallway then into his room, he didn't even notice Leon's door was open and wasn't home. At the moment, he was too tired to even take in his surroundings. He had a rough night, he just wanted to go to sleep, shake off the spiking emotions and pretend like nothing happened and continue. Like Hinata said, he needs to chill out a bit and take each day at a time.

He shedded his clothes off, his yellow converse first, then his yellow hoodie, and lastly his black skinny jeans that he managed to trip over on his way to the bed. He didn't bother to take a shower, instead he face planted into his bed, inhaling the smell of dog immediately.

Souda lifted his head and groaned. "Fuckin' hell Mondo, now my bed smells like dog!"

-x-

The next morning, or later on that morning Souda got up with a pounding headache, he felt like shit again. However, there was one good thing, he didn’t have a nightmare about anyone killing or dying. That was a relief.

He was quite happy when he woke up without a nightmare, and more energetic than usual. Until he sniffed his duvet and inhaled Mondo’s dog smell and gagged as he got up to take a shower.

After he got out the shower and walked back into his bedroom, he noticed someone cleaned up behind him. His room was a lot messier when he woke up, but it seemed like someone came inside and cleaned. Who would do that? It sure as hell wasn’t Leon’s gross ass.

Puzzled, he walked to his dresser to pull out his underwear when he heard someone shuffle inside his room behind him. 

“Oh there you are, man, you guys are such pigs!”

With eyes widened, Souda turned around to see Sayaka with a basket in her hand. When the fuck did she get here? And why was she picking up behind him?

“Uh, did I switch bodies with Leon or something?” Souda asked narrowing his eyes. Sayaka let out a laugh and shook her head. 

“Nope, I just happened to walk by your room and see the horrific state it was in, you know, something can breed in here if you keep it like this!” she sounded like she was joking, but something in her tone told Souda she wasn’t. Despite it all, he was thankful and nodded, 

“Thanks, I didn’t know.”

“Of course, you and Leon are the grossest guys I’ve known in my life!”

“Hey hey hey, what the hell lady?”

In response, Sayaka giggled softly strutting out the room at Souda’s outburst. Souda stared at his bright colored underwear and muttered about how he isn’t that gross, clearly offended by Sayaka's comment about his lifestyle.

-x- 

Work went smoothly, he hadn’t even thought about the nightmares once, or even thought about Gundam.

….

Until the Animal breeder walked by his front window. That was odd, he never seen him walk by his shop ever.

….

That's when he decided that that was it. Souda had to talk to Gundam. Yeah, the whole party situation pissed him the fuck off and made him throw a tantrum internally. However, it was quite bizarre the way it happened and he did have to find some closure.

…

His day was about to end in about a few minutes. Maybe he should clock out early to see where the hell Gundam was going, the guy often stays at work late so why was he walking about?

Souda started packing up his tools and locked the garage, ready to head out. That’s when Gundam walked by a second time, looking right into the shop. What in the flying fuck was going on with that guy? This was weird. The mechanic quirked up an eyebrow and continued to lock up to catch up to the guy to see what was up, this had to be a sign of some kind. So, as quickly as he could, he locked up his shop and ran down the street to catch up to Gundam who was in front of the pet store about to walk back in. Souda was surprised he didn't turn around when he heard running then the rapid footsteps stopping right beside him. He managed to catch him at the front door, key in lock. Not really thinking about what he was doing, Souda put a hand on his shoulder, halfway catching his breath. Gundam didn't flinch at all, like people normally do when their surprised. He just looked over his shoulder at Souda with a deadpan. 

Souda froze for a second then blinked. For a second he was at a loss of words. 

"Uhm hey..."

"Hello Souda." Gundam turned fully towards him, his eyes casted down. 

Souda tried to act as natural as he could, something about the way Gundam was looking was off putting but he pressed on anyways. "Remember when I stopped by and said I wanted a pet?"

"...yes." Gundam answered. 

'Okay, good, now all I have to do is just...get inside the shop talk casually muster up all the courage to...wait, not I shouldn't do that, maybe I'll just ask him out? No no no, too soon for that.' Souda thought seriously to himself. Gundam apparently was aware that Souda was spacing out but didn't say anything, he patiently stayed put waiting for the other to respond.

"Gundam!" A bundle of white hair bounced its way down the street. It was none other than Komaeda. Souda inwardly cursed to himself as the skinny man approached, with his usual big green coat on and wide smile that should be on serial killers face. Man, Hinata had some weird taste in men. Komaeda's grey eyes lit up, "Oh, and Souda! How magnificent to see you two getting along on this beautiful day!"

Souda immediately started blushing as Gundam remained poker faced, a little out of it but relatively more there than Souda. 

Komaeda clapped his hands together finally in front of the two smiling softer, "I think I'm going to buy a pet today, it'll be a surprise though. Hinata doesn't know I'm going to get one."

Gundam looked at Komaeda like that wasn't a wise decision given what happened last night, but it wasn't an area where he should intervene. He simply shrugged and turned the key. "Alright then, I shall unlock the door." as said, Gundam unlocked the door and let the two in. Komaeda had let Gundam take a few steps in front of him before he leaned down towards Souda.

"So you're going to make your move? Do not worry, I won't cock block."

That completely caught Souda off guard and made him splutter in response. The jovial man stood back up and smiled way too innocently, finally walking into the pet store. Gundam turned around and saw the horrific look on Souda's face and raised an eyebrow.

Souda was unaware of his expression, and remained planted at the doorway, thinking to himself. 'Shit, Komaeda knows now?'

Souda's eyes narrowed as he watch Komaeda walking around in the shop already talking about the pet he wanted. He was walking a bit funny. Whatever in the hell happened to him last night?

...

Souda dismissed the thought after an not too pleasant image entered his head and followed them inside. 

"So I was thinking about a parrot, but I can see Hinata getting annoyed by the chirping and mimicking, then, then I thought about a mini shark." Komaeda ranted, gesturing wildly with his hands.

"...that's quite specific." Gundam muttered into his scarf folding his arms listening to the man talk. 

"But I think I should get a baby tiger..."

"...Komaeda, I do not carry baby tigers. And that is illegal to domestically own."

"Oh," Komaeda put a hand to his chin thinking over all the animals he wanted to torture Hinata with. "Well, I guess I'll get a cat?"

The Animal breeder paused for a second, "Well...given the purpose why you are getting a pet that you stated before you listed all those species..." Gundam started, "A dog would most likely fit for mental therapy. Their loyalty is unlimited and their easy to get attached to."

Komaeda clapped his hands together, "Oh yes! You are right! I came to the right person! Now...what breed?"

Gundam began smiling, the smile he gets when he goes on about animals. Souda watched him closely during the whole time. From when he explained each breed, and when he went around the store to show Komaeda the dogs he had. It was actually mesmerizing how passionate he was about it all and how he listed the right way to treat and train a pet. Komaeda was sucking it all in, listening and nodding. Souda at first had no intention of getting a pet, but after seeing how Gundam  
dealt with everything so perfectly. Other people trickled inside the shop during his explanation to Komaeda, he went to and fro between people checking on them, but once again coming back to Komaeda. 

It was about 8PM, Souda got off of work at least at 5PM, he spent a whole 3 hours at the pet shop. Damn, never would he think he'd do that in his life. It's all Gundam's fault for being so...captivating.

Komaeda finally purchased his dog, a fat little tri color welsh corgi and went down a long list of names, some of the ones he heard was Hope and Lucky. Souda chuckled as Komaeda thought of names out loud. The store now emptied out and Komaeda soon left after the crowd, which only left Souda and Gundam. Souda swallowed thickly as he watched Gundam walk over to him, he was currently in front of a tank with mini sharks. He stood there looking at their teeth, they were so much like his. 

"Souda, you've been here the whole time, I apologize, I did not want to keep you waiting."

"Ah, no it's fine, I enjoyed being here, I needed the distraction..."

"...oh." Gundam let out a sigh of relief in his own way at Souda's words. Souda raised both his eyebrows and turned frontal towards Gundam.

...

Damn it was like the night before. Uh, why can't this stop happening between them?

"So about last night..." Souda started before he knew that he rolled into the subject directly, "Did something happen? You left suddenly..." he went to scratch at the side of his face nervously. 

Gundam folded his arms, "I had an emergency call..." 

Souda put a hand in front of his mouth in surprise.

"Someone's dog needed to be revived and they didn't know how to."

Souda immediately felt bad for being an emotional wreck last night when he had no idea what actually caused Gundam to leave. Like, there he was throwing a fit about being left behind at a party, while Gundam was reviving a dog. 

"I'm sorry to hear that, is the dog okay?"

"..." Gundam paused dramatically, then sighed. "Yes, it was a close call however, they almost waited to long to call me, I think the owners tried to do it themselves but failed." 

"Wow..." Souda exclaimed. "That's amazing."

"I wouldn't be who I was if I couldn't perform something expected of my title." 

Souda nodded relating to him on that sentence. "Yeah..." he paused then started on a different topic from where they were heading. No one liked to discuss the high expectations they were held to as Hope's Peak Students. "Well, I might not look for a pet today, but perhaps..." Souda started to stop and say never mind but he kept pressing, his cheeks sort of went pink, "Uhm, what I meant to say was or what I'm trying to say is that we should have lunch...sometime and discuss things...?" Damn, awkward as fuck but Gundam took it and had a positive response. He smiled, very benign, but it was there since his dimples were showing. 

"Yes, of course." Gundam answered promptly beginning to turn off the lights inside his store.

Souda stopped, blinked, then squealed internally, showing his row of sharp teeth. "Ah! Awesome!" he didn't hide his excitement well, whereas Gundam was calmer. "I uh, I'll stop by tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow is Saturday."

"Yeah, wait, are you busy tomorrow?"

"No, I shouldn't be."

His excitement was blistering now, sparkles were seen in his eyes, "Awesome, okay, well uhm...I'll see you tomorrow then! Right?"

Gundam nodded firmly, "Yes tomorrow," he answered as Souda backed out of the pet shop and waved good bye, the other mirrored the action. Once outside Souda literally leapt up in the air and charged on his way home. Man, he felt fucking good after that. It wasn't a date, but him just succeeding on having lunch with Gundam was an accomplishment.

-x-

Souda was in high spirits when he got home. He even gave Leon a former, "Good Evening? How are you?" before he plopped down on the couch besides his roommate. They had a chill evening watched Naked and Afraid for a while before Leon popped the question unexpectedly.

"So, did ya' kiss Gundam today or what?"

Souda's smile completely deflated and he looked at Leon with bugged out magenta eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My, this was sort of a long chapter? I decided to stick with Gundam and Souda, not Soda and Gundham, that's just awkward AF. I don't know why they did that but whatever, I'm still going to write Gundam and Souda, because I might incept when I write 'Soda drinking Soda'. Like whoa, he's drinking himself?
> 
> ...
> 
> ohohohoho xD Anywaaaaayysss~
> 
> In all honesty, I really didn't know where to go with this chapter. I had at least like 3 different scenarios and ways it could've turned out, but I really wanted to include Hinata in this one because that's his Soul Friend, also in the story tag KomaHina was promised and I was like, okay I should put them in somewhere, kinda soon in the story but I don't know how long I'm going to make this thing. Anyways, it took me awhile but I got it in...
> 
> ohohoho~ Okay, I need to stop. 
> 
> I named the chapter low shoulder because one of my favorite songs are named that lol, and also of how little sanity Souda has and a low shoulder is like the edge of the road to prevent you from falling in a ditch, off a cliff or whatever. And also his sanity is depleting and Gundam's little shenanigans alongside his own insecurity is making him lose whats left so yeah. I also made Hinata an asshole but a caring asshole and Komaeda somewhat likable by his former classmates, I don't like it when people make Komaeda hated by all and completely creepy. I mean, I like how estrange he is, but I don't like completely ostracizing Komaeda, even though the others do, I just have feels for him and want him to interact with people other than Hinata and Nanami. Also I'm not sure if Gundam is too ooc. Ahhh, or anybody else idk. orz
> 
> I guess Souda isn't going insane completely yet, too soon for that! He still has his friends!
> 
> Anyways, I'm going to cough my lung up and get some tea. ˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅ )‧º·˚  
> more coming up soon!


	3. Funk Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bro talks for days.  
> Man, so many bros and talks, so many talks with bros.

**Funk Me**

 

**;**

 

“Man, so ya think these people ever do it in the wild?” Souda asked trying to change the subject. “The first encounters are always fuckin’ awkward.” he continued.

Leon had no intention of the subject changing again. He stared blankly at Souda with his ice blue eyes until Souda's face twitched a bit from the look he was given. That caused the punk rocker to smirk at his shark toothed friend, “Soo...ya like animal boy, huh?” Leon paused waiting for a response, Souda took a milisecond glance at Leon before looking straight forward at the T.V. with an apparent frown, shifting in his seat. Leon jerked his neck back with a shit eating grin, “Damn, who woulda guessed.” Leon snorted. "Ya went from one extreme to the other my man. Damn, adulthood did some shit to ya didn't it?"

Souda’s security committed seppuku at that. He tried not to show any emotion but it was failing, his face turned the color of his contact lenses and his mouth was turned down like a elevator button. There was no way in hell he could counter Leon’s statement of fact with a steady answer that didn’t result in yelling, cursing or crying from frustration. To begin, he doesn’t want anybody to know because they really like pressuring a guy. Second of all, Souda may seem ‘social’ but really inside he’s insecure and has a lot of demons that he’s been battling for a loooonngg time. Third and most concerning, how does Leon even know in the first place? There were only a couple scenarios Souda could count on his fingers of how Leon found out. One of them consisted of some eavesdropper or rumor monger at the party telling him, most likely. Another was that Leon was actually there himself and somehow hid himself in the crowd of students, very unlikely but possible.

Souda knitted his eyebrows together, openly disturbed yet paranoid. He didn’t really have any energy left to get angry, or maybe it was his happiness in having lunch with Gundam deluding his anger. Or something else. Who knows, too many gears are turning in his head. Either or, he was just confused.

He ended up asking straight up. “How did ya’ know?”

Leon sat up in his seat a bit but was still sprawled out like a starfish. “Why the fuck am I hearin’ through ta’ grapevine that ya’ were seen hittin’ on him last night?”

“Who told ya’ that anyways? Wait, first of all, how did ya’ know there was a party to begin with?”

“...damn, you act like I shut myself out...” Souda blinked at Leon. The latter stared back.

Souda rolled his eyes and glared at the red head, “Were ya’ invited at all? C’mon, don’t act all mysterious suddenly...”

“Fine, okay yeah I was invited… when ya’ left Sayaka came over unexpectedly talkin’ about a get together with all our classmates at Komaeda and Hinata’s place. I assumed that you were over there already since you weren’t here and those guys are your friends, but I already made up in my mind the second she told me that I wasn’t gonna go, shit like that pisses me off, I don’t really like our classmates that much, they’re all stuck up assholes.” Leon paused to release a long yawn. “Mmm, so instead I hung out with Sayaka, who didn’t want to go either and actually planned for us to hang...so that’s what happened. Long story short, yeah I was invited but I didn’t wanna go to that.”

“Fuck, ya’ didn’t have to tell me your whole life story…” Souda mumbled. Leon had shitty hearing thanks to all the punk rock he listens to on the highest volume, so he didn’t catch what Souda mumbled. All he heard was ‘Fuck’ and ‘Did’ and Leon nodded in response. Souda didn’t comment on that. “Uhh, but who told you if you weren’t there?”

“Hah, my bro Kiyotaka did.”

“Kiyotaka?” Souda said slowly like the name he heard was not the one Leon meant to say. “The policeman?” Souda asked still unconvinced. Leon nodded his head, 

“Yeah, he’s conservative as fuck but he likes to gossip too.”

“...why? Wait, what?” Souda jerked his neck back like a chicken.

Leon shrugged, “Donno, maybe he thought I should know who you’re involved with.”

“Well, I was not hitting on Gundam last night, I was just talking.”

“He said ya’ guys were touching each other and giggling crazy.” Leon grinned, “Sounds like flirting to me.”

Souda became angry. Great. If Ishimaru saw it, than everyone else saw it too. Hell, everyone was probably talking up a damn storm about this. “What the fuck? That didn’t...or maybe it did..." Souda trailed off, "Listen, whatever the hell, I don’t think any giggling and touching happened!”

“Shit man! Ya’ were so trashed you don’t fuckin’ remember what ya’ did?”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...so ya’ coulda done that. Damn Souda, ya’ gotta get your shit together. You might end up worst getting drunk like that.”

Souda wanted to add 'it wasn't my fault!' but how stupid would that sound? “...let me guess, you asked Ishimaru what happened didn’t you?”

“Okay, I asked if you were there and he told me that.” Leon shrugged as he swung his legs off the couch and stood up. Souda’s shoulders slumped not believing that Ishimaru would suddenly be like "Oh, yes and blah blah blah flirting blah blah blah." He had better shit to talk about, Leon dug for that info. “Listen, Sou.” Leon started, Souda looked up then down at the carpet under his feet, “If you like him, go for it. I don’t care, I mean look at my face.”

“Leon I’m not doi--”

“Look at my face!” Albeit, Souda looked up. “Look closely, look very closely at my face.”

“Okay. Whatever...”

“Nah, look at every--”

“---I’m fuckin’ looking!” Souda shouted.

“Does it look like I give a flyin’ fuck if ya’ like animal boy?”

“I don’t know how to answer that.”

“Guess what? No. I don’t care in the sense that you can like anyone.” Leon cursed, “I would talk longer but I gotta shit load of shit tomorrow, you should get some sleep. Ya’ look tired and I’m tired as well....” the red head started walking towards his bedroom, hair messy and eyes droopy. He knew that Leon was always practicing with his makeshift punk band sometimes, other times, he didn’t know if Leon even did anything during the day. It took Souda about four months ago to realize Leon wasn’t playing baseball anymore. Leon was a working man too, he had essentially thrown his Super High School Level name away and made a new one. Naturally as a punk rocker, he was a rebel, so rebelling against the name given to him by Hopes Peak was in his nature...apparently.

Souda wasn’t going to give Leon hell over this petty shit. They all were going through something. Everyone woke up with new problems to sort through. He just didn’t like how everyone used his situation with Gundam as some sort of mock entertainment that distracted them from their own convoluted lives. No one cared about him in High School, why all of the sudden Souda is like the hot topic? 

Or maybe everyone just liked picking on him.

“Everything is gonna be alright man.” There was a firm grab to his shoulder. Souda sort of didn't feel it, but he knew it happened. It was an odd feeling he'd get when he didn't pay attention to his surroundings.

He was still stuck on the topic at hand. If Hinata, Komaeda, Kiyotaka and Leon knew, then who the fuck else knew as well? That's a league of men in different social circles...well sort of. Who else was laughing and talking about it? All that happened was too many drinks which equals a friendly Souda, nothing more, everyone should know that by now. Shit, and how the rumor started. He could have been hitting on Sonia, Peko or Kuzuryuu, he talked to them too! Why was Gundam excluded and the only one focused on?

“Night Sou.”

Even so, there wasn’t much he could do. Not like he had the power or a device to take people’s memories away and replace them with new ones like in Men in Black. All he had to do was deal with it, life goes on.

“Kazuichi Souda, get yer ass to bed man!” Leon shouted down the hallway before closing his door.

Too tired to even reply to the parental like yelling from a childish man. The muddy puddle of an emotional mess named Kazuichi Souda got up from the couch and retired to his bed after taking out his contacts and changing into his night clothes.

‘Well at least there’s tomorrow.’ He thought as he drifted to sleep.

-x-

Souda had got up early in the morning, about 3 AM, consequently starting the day off bad with very little hours of sleep. He knew he would need a triple shot cup of coffee to get his ass going. At least waking up anxious about his luncheon with Gundam had scared the nightmares away.

Trying to think himself to sleep anyways, he sat up in his bed and just thought about how he was supposed to face the day ahead, neverminding the bullshit gossip that started after the surprise party. Right now, he just has to take each day at a time as Hinata advised. 

Firstly, what was he going to wear? Should he run out in that oily yellow jumpsuit, should he change his clothes? Put his hair up? No, he would look like he’s trying too damn hard, it’s a lunch break, not a expensive dinner date. 

He thought about other things as the numbers on the clock changed, and the dark blue sky became illuminated with the morning sun. It was bright blue now, which meant it was time for him to get moving. He was antsy, and went through his usual morning routine. Pick out Clothes. Shower. Brush Teeth. Mess with hair. Brush teeth. Mess with his braid. Pick new set of clothes. Wait. No, that wasn’t how his mornings went.

“Godammit.” Souda cursed out loud throwing the black polo shirt he picked up on the pile of clothes on his bed. He had to get his head screwed on straight. There was no way he was going to go through the day like this, he had to just calm down and pick out some clothes, well first put some damn underwear on then his jumpsuit, go to work and fix some cars before lunch. After that, it’ll be all over and if he’s successful he’ll stress over something else... 

So after he got his shots of coffee, he headed to work and began tinkering with the cars. He changed the gas gauge of a luxurious sports car and then stopped working when he was 30 minutes from lunch time. He gave himself ample time to clean himself up. 

Earlier that morning, before he got to work, he walked by the pet shop to see that it wasn’t open yet. He was a tad bit disappointed and worried that Gundam would never turn up but he convinced himself that he would. He couldn’t see the pet shop from his window so he was left in darkness all morning. No way in hell would he run outside and then dash in front of the pet store like a dumbass, but he was pretty damn close too.

When his lunch hour came or in his mind what he calls it his luncheon date with Gundam, he looked at himself in several car windows to see what he looked like. As expected, not too great, well, expected of a man who sweats and works in a garage. He anxiously tried to fix his appearance up a bit before he headed out. He couldn’t help the bags under his eyes but he managed to get out of his jumpsuit before changing into clothes that he brought with him so he smelled and looked less dingy. 

It was about 5 minutes after his usual lunch break time when he realized he was late. He leapt out the shop so fast, he almost forgot to lock up. That took about 2 minutes and made him even later. Then out of nowhere, as he turned the lights off inside, the bell rang. Souda wondered who would walk in. Then he thought it was Gundam. He whirled around to expect the animal breeder when instead, he saw a tall blonde with a crisp black suit. Souda blinked once, twice then looked into the stern blue eyes of the man in front of him.

“Togami?” Souda said in surprise. “Didn’t think I’d see you here.”

The man clicked his tongue, agreeing with Souda’s statement. “Neither have I. Normally I would call for an appointment however, my car broke down a couple addresses down. My old mechanic seemed to have looked over a severe problem that escalated over time, which is unacceptable if I’m paying, so I expect you to fix this.”

“Uhh, I don’t have a tow truck…” Souda started. “And uh, well…” he wanted to add ‘I got a fucking lunch to attend with someone I’ve been dying to have one with’ but that would’ve came off selfish. And also, that’s one of the last things someone should say to someone with as much clout that Byakuya Togami has. 

“Calling the service is no problem. I just need a capable mechanic to fix this problem, I have an important meeting to attend so I won’t be sticking around.”

“Can’t ya’ call another ride or something?”

“Yes but I am not going to leave a car in my name in the middle of a city.” Togami said as if it was obvious, which it was. Not like the guy was going to throw away the car just because it stopped on him for one time.

Sounding defeated, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to get out of this rut, Souda slumped his shoulders and flicked the lights back on. “Yeah, you’re right, okay I’ll unlock the garage, tell em’ to drop it off at the end and I’ll get fixing on it.”

Byakuya nodded and walked out of the shop. 

Souda was going to miss his opportunity thanks to Byakuya fucking Togami. The asshole better not play cheap.

-x-

After all the crap Souda went through, he finally managed to get Togami’s limo into the garage. It took a good hunk of twenty minutes out of his lunchtime which left him with about 30-40 minutes (pretty long lunch, but he's his own boss). He doesn’t know how long Gundam’s lunch breaks are, but he doubts their too long (not as long as his). The guy has a bunch of customers who want his conisueering and business.

Frustrated, Souda took off down the street to the pet shop to see if Gundam was there. Just his luck to find out that it was locked, closed, and all the lights were off inside. Souda pressed his face against the window, cupping his hands around his head to peek inside just in case Gundam was hiding in the dark or something. He searched with his droopy eyes for about five minutes. When no signs were shown, he gave up hope and pushed his face off the glass. “Fuck!” he cursed out loud pounding on the window. A lady walking her dog had passed by at the moment and jumped when the mechanic cursed. 

Souda didn’t see her jump or even hear her yelp, he was too busy fuming over his missed opportunity. He didn’t care anymore and just glared at the empty pet shop like a sworn enemy. He turned his back on the window and began to inhale and exhale sharply. Normally he’d just shrug and wait to tell him that something came up. Not this time, a restless Souda running on coffee beans and other uppers is not as rational as a well rested Souda.

“Yo, Souda? Watchu doin' here?”

 _Shit._ The pink haired man turned around to face the voice that called out to him. As soon as he turned his head his eyes landed on a large blonde pompadour.  
Souda looked away for a second then back at Mondo. Damn, how messed up was it that he sees him here out of all places? Souda wanted to play it off, but his voice betrayed him. 

“Hey…” he solemnly replied sounding completely out of it. The exact opposite of how he wanted to come across to the muscular man. 

Mondo caught onto Souda’s low energy and snorted. “The fuck type of greeting is that?” 

Souda looked at the tall biker unfocused, “Sorry, I’m not in a good mood right now.” 

Mondo’s violet eyes squinted for a second then opened wide. Souda had no idea what the hell Mondo was staring at until he spoke up. “Where’s your head?”

The mechanic looked over at Mondo with a raised eyebrow, “Huh?”

“Your beanie, it’s not on your head.”

“What?” Souda confirmed what Mondo said when he put his hand on his head, feeling his strandy pink hair. “Oh, fuck.”

“Don’t tell me you forgot to wear your beanie?...” Mondo looked at the change of fatigue to sudden paranoia in Souda’s stature. “Or...did you do that on purpose?”

Souda’s face went flat. “You know don’t you.”

“What?”

“C’mon, don’t play dumb with me, I know ya’ know.”

“Know what?”

“God dammit Mondo, just stop and tell me.”

“...what, that Leon is with Sayaka now?”

“Yeah...wait, no, wait, what?”

“Fuck man, you know, everyone knows Leon is a man whore. I guess he takes that rocker life seriously...he has chicks flying at him and...”

Souda’s mouth formed into a ‘o’ as he listened to Mondo rant about Leon’s sex drive. He was not expecting Mondo to completely just miss the mark like that. For crying out loud, he’s in front of the pet shop, eyes reddening and possibly watering, said pet shop locked and closed, that party and the rumor that ensued thanks to Ishimaru…

Oh.

What if Mondo didn’t know? He wasn’t there. 

That was a relief.

There was a moment of silence before Mondo’s voice picked up, “Anyways, so, what’s up with you and that goth guy?”

Souda’s facial structure turned into a blob. Literally, all the bones in his face, his whole skull just melted and left his skin hanging off the stem of his neck...

Not literally but that's what his face felt like. 

“I mean, y’know, Leon told me that you had an eye for the guy, and I was totalllllllyyyyy not expecting that.”

Souda kept silent. Mondo continued.

“Huh? What’s up with the silence?”

“...so you do know…” Souda said barely above a whisper.

“What’s that? Couldn’t hear you.”

“Argh...I’m going to kill him.”

“...kill who? Leon?”

“...Why is everyone talkin’ about it?” Souda whined. Mondo jerked his neck back, that was a tone he hadn't heard Souda use in like forever. 

“Hey, I’m right here y’know, please talk, you’re creepin me out!”

Souda tilted his head up, swallowed and then lowered his head back down. “I’m not doing this, I’m not dealing with this. I should just crawl into a hole and fuckin' die.”

“...Souda, c’mon man, lets talk, this is very out of character for you, you’re acting like you’re being forced to do something bad to get out of a situation…” Souda stood still for a few minutes in silence. Mondo sighed thinking how foolish Souda was acting but kept that to himself as he began to push the pink haired man down the street. "Shit man, you're light as fuck! I could pick you up with a finger!"

-x-

“Hey, listen, let me tell you something…”

Souda’s eyes flickered over to Mondo after staring into space for a few minutes. Earlier, he couldn't even order his food because he was so messed up over everything. Meanwhile, the brute strength wielding man was chewing the shit out of a burger. Souda felt bad for the thing but hey, it was made to be consumed. Well, in his mind. 

“One thing I regretted being in fuckin' school was this…” Mondo paused dramatically. He continued, “Was that I gave too many fucks about what people thought.”

“That’s not it Mondo...it's--”

“--Nah, it is! Because if you didn’t give a fuck about what these people are saying, then you wouldn't give a fuck. But you're sulkin' and shit and that's showin' you give a fuck!” Souda is pretty sure ‘fuck’ was used too many times in that sentence but he let it slide. Funny how the man who has a horrible temper is now pep talking him with his aggressive, colorful language. 

Mondo looked at Souda waiting for a response. The man stared at his cup slumped in his chair, looking like a defeated man. Mondo shook his head.

“I was miserable because I gave too many fucks about what everyone said.” He let out a dark chuckle. “And here I was a Super High School Level Outlaw Biker, my title is written fear, and I tried to live up to that title, what people expected, that fear by punching people unconscious because I had to keep a rep…” Mondo paused, “That’s what they’ll do, society, and some of our old peeps. Some of the assholes in our class still have that mentality. You’d think they would grow out of it…”

“Who told you, no, who told Leon?”

“Don’t be stuck on that shit, that’ll only piss you off even more. Did ya even listen to what I said?!”

Souda gulped, uh oh, Mondo was getting mad. “No I was listening, but really...I want to know who. That way I can distance myself.”

Mondo looked to the side. “Damn, don’t you only talk to that guy who's almost identical to Naegi and Slut face?”

Souda would have laughed at the nicknames but was too somber about finding out who talked crap. "...Dude."

“Tch, fine, it was uh, some chick…”

“...some chick? C'mon, more description.”

“Yeah, uh, I don’t know her name, fuck, I don’t know much of the people in your grade, you guys were all fucked up and shit.”

Souda put a hand to his head and sighed, “I think we’re aware of that.”

“Oh wait.” Mondo’s voice got loud with his excitement. “That-that chick who...oh! Yeah, her." Mondo at this point was talking to himself more than Souda. It was getting real annoying, quick. Souda picked up where Mondo was making lead way, "And then she went to that crazy model chick and told her. You know the girl whose panties were always showing no matter what, prom, graduation, school, gym class…? Crazy ass poses?”

Souda wanted to tell Mondo to keep his voice down since people were staring, especially when he was talking about panties. But he wanted to find out. Didn’t matter if the whole restaurant heard their conversation and how Ishimaru explained that through this chick then another chick I heard blah blah blah. Sounded like some telephone crap. “Hmm...Tsumiki?”

“I don’t know! Both of them were always flashing their shit!” Mondo basically screamed. "Man, I remember lunchtime, I was scarred for life, I'll never look at pineapples the same!" One pervert turned around and made a face like 'go on, and yes I'm eavesdropping.'

Souda took a minute to think, then began to recall his memories at the party. “...huh, that night Tsumiki was in the kitchen when I talked to Hinata after it all...then she disappeared suddenly.”

“Who that?”

“Huh?” Souda paused realizing who he was asking about. “...oh Naegi’s twin guy…and the nurse...”

“Oh. Then there you go, that’s your answer, easy. Mystery solved.”

“I wouldn’t think she’d do that, me and Tsumiki are on good terms. Well last time I checked anyways, she's also really nice.”

“There was alcohol right? That stuff makes the truth come out...”

Souda winced, completely understanding what Mondo had said. “Yeah, you’re right.” he sighed. “She probably ran into the other room and told Junko. They were both there that night.”

“And Junko probably blabbed about it to Kiyotaka…”

“Or he saw it himself and gave himself an alibi, and I was acting like that and just fucked up…” Souda’s sentence died, which resonated another awkward silence.

It was the perfect time for Mondo to demonstrate his strength by banging his fist against the table. In return, causing a few bodies to jolt and look in the two men's direction. “...well who gives a fuck if that happened. Shit, go balls out!” Souda looked up at Mondo eyebrows furrowed. “I mean, go. Just go out there, just be like, yeah I touched him and I giggled with him. And guess what? I wanna fuck him!” A middle aged woman let out a loud gasp and ushered her kids out the place. Souda face palmed himself shaking his head.

“Mondo, calm down! There were kids in here! And don't say that, that's so, vulgar!”

“No I’m serious, you gotta just be out there man! ARGH.”

Okay. Mondo was scaring him, why is he so fired up? “Uhh, I tried to be forward but…well, I asked him out to lunch and he agreed...but then…that prick Togami showed up asking for me to take his car in, it happened right at lunch time, so that made me late, and then that’s when ya’ saw me in front of the shop banging on the window.” Souda explained choppily, but at least got the main point out that he indeed did make some progress. 

Mondo shook his head and sat back down after his little excitement died. “Damn...that son of a bitch always is fucking someones life up with his coconut hair.”

“...I hope he’s not mad.” Souda said to himself more than to Mondo, Mondo answered anyways,

“Well, tell him something came up, you got his number right? Or go to his place and just tell him.”

Souda blushed while squirming in his chair a bit. “No! That’s too soon. I mean, I don’t have his number or know where he...can we just not go there?”

“Damn! What did I say?” Mondo’s face turned red, “I didn’t mean it like. Back up, back up. Listen uhm, what did I say? I said somethign nasty didn't I?”

He went to grab at his beanie but instead grabbed at his pink bangs, failing to shield his face “No you didn't! You just sound so gushy and corny right now! Gragh! Mondo can we not talk about this here! I feel like a 80's movie teenager!”

“...So like. You just know where he works right? If you asked him out to lunch?”

Souda ran his hands down his face, “Is that a problem? What? I’m supposed to stalk him or somethin’?” he gestured wildly with one hand.

Mondo leaned back a bit in his chair as his volume escalated, “That’s what you usually do right? That blonde chick, you used to stalk her! That’s actually where I first met you! Stalkin’ that chick on the field trying to peak up her skirt!”

“No, we were in the dormitory and then she... I was in high school okay? Can ya’ blame me? I was...argh, just don’t remind me. I was a wreck in many ways.” Souda waved off the memory, reaching for a cold, oily, fry. 

“Tch, god damn man, I’m just trying to help!” Mondo shouted. "Don't want you being creepy as you step up your game." 

Souda let out a exhale, more of relief than frustration. “No, you helped a lot actually, even though ya’ told the whole damn burger joint.”

“What? Nah, I didn’t do that, I just...y’know say it how it is.”

“...Sure…” Souda exhaled raising his eyebrows quickly as if not believing that statement.

"Uhm excuse me sirs..." a very nasily and uncomfortable voice came between the two men. A short man with thick glasses sighed when Mondo glared at his interruption, lips turned down into a deep scowl. "You guys disturbed the peace of this joint, multiple costumer's agree. I'm going to have to ask you two to leave..."

Insides of a burger splattered over the table. "Ain't this some bullshit?" Mondo clicked his tongue, jerking his head back in a offended motion, "Tch, we were done anyways!" he said loudly in his intimidating voice, "C'mon Souda, man don't got any manners, interrupting like that then kicking us out! The fuck?"

Souda gave the wimpy looking guy a look but headed out after his friend quickly. He was surprised Mondo didn't just clock the guy right there. Seemed he's changed a bit over the years. 

When the two left and the chime to the joint rang two times. The man eyed the remanants of bread, patty and tomato closely, before he picked it up and munched on the burger Mondo left, moaning into it. Everyone around was outwardly disturbed and began to file out. 

"Uh, did you see the way that guy was looking at you?"

"Nah."

"Mondo, he was giving you googly eyes."

"Stop makin' up shit Souda."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter has been hard to make. GAH. It's out. Sorry about the wait everyone. I can now continue on! I'm trying to incorporate everyone in the tags while keeping the story moving, so it kinda takes awhile.  
> I'll probably edit some of this, since I just feel like this chapter is just not like the others. I had a clear idea about the others, but this one my idea got muddy and then I came out with this. So sorry. orz  
> also idk why the author notes is doubled. weird.  
> I'm making more chapters. I plan to do that soon too.  
> Next Chapter will be longer. Promise. And more fuck shit stacks.


	4. Something About Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Souda got it bad.

**Something About Us**

 

**;**

 

Souda had returned home, feeling somewhat refreshed from his conversation with Mondo. The motorcycle gang leader did have a point in everything he said, ‘going balls out’ but more importantly ‘not caring about what everyone is saying’. Nevertheless, Souda couldn’t help but think to himself, ‘Am I being too forward?’. Souda’s pretty sure that there’s only one or two people that know Gundam personally. Everyone else just kind of vibes off of what everyone else says and what little they saw of him in school. So really... was Mondo’s advise that good?

…

Perhaps. He leaned back into the chair he was reclined on and thought, thought long and hard about what he would do next. Of course, he was going to apologize to Gundam for being late...emphasis on ‘was’, for he was not entirely sure where Gundam was the whole day.

Souda went to check to see if he was in the pet shop after the lunch hour and found the said store still empty. That struck Souda as odd, like seeing Akane in a pink lolita dress. The animal breeder always is inside his shop at specific times and days, spiritually, but today, the pattern was broken. 

“Maybe I did force it too hard...damn, who knew there was someone out there more sensitive than me?” he said out loud to no one but himself. Souda wanted to chuckle about it but didn’t have the emotional energy to do so. When the hell did he find this whole thing funny? There was a good possibility that Gundam is secretly denying him. Going to odds like abandoning work for a day because the pink haired mechanic down the street is pursuing him too hard.

He was about to laugh one second the felt the need to sulk the next. Souda’s head began to hurt from the mood swings. What in the hell was going on? Thinking about it too much was only going to make him sicker. Crushing on someone this bad isn’t good for the soul and mind. 

He sighed out loud and got up to retreat to his bed. Sleep Sunday away, then wake up to face Monday.

-x-

“...Souda.”

A deep, gruff and all too familiar voice sounded from behind him. However, his head stayed still on the landscape in front of him. He was currently on a pristine, vocational beach with someone else. Wait. First of all, what beach? Hell, like Souda knew. Maybe this was the true reality. Maybe he had a psychotic breakdown and ran to a random beach in the middle of the night.

Anyways...

The fresh ocean smell whispered against his nose as he took in his surroundings. He stared for awhile till there was no time left. Or his brain told him that time was limited by some unknown force. 

Taking action, Souda craned his neck back and over his shoulder to see a high school aged Gundam standing there with his hamsters calmly sticking out his scarf. His expression was solemn, like doom was impendent. Souda had no idea why though, the scenery was peaceful, he couldn’t think of anything that could possibly cause such a expression. Everything was so perfect, like something someone would send you on a postcard with a scratch and sniff of the smell of fresh ocean water. 

As Souda kept thinking about why Gundam looked so sad, then, like a camera being controlled by a sadistic director, Souda’s eyes flashed to his hand. There was a large clean hatchet. 

Wait. What the hell was going on?

“You’re going to use that on me aren’t you?” the same voice echoed in his right ear, still very mellow and at ease, though there was a force behind it. 

“!!” Souda gasped loud and looked cautiously at Gundam, as if he were the animal breeder was the one with the weapon. First of all, where the hell did he find a hatchet on a beach, and why the fuck does he have one?

Before Souda could even let out a response, Gundam closed his eyes and let out a hollow laugh, “Mortal, let this resonate through your underdeveloped mind. I am allowing you to kill me, you have no upper hand, I am handing the hand to you and letting you…” he paused, “Do as you wish…” It was weird, Gundam didn't talk like that anymore. 

“...” Souda didn’t even have a voice. He felt his mouth move but he heard nothing but hot, harsh gasps. What did he mean ‘kill me?’. When did he decide to kill him? First of all why would he? He was sickly in love with the guy by just being a bystander and observing the man from afar. Barely having any interaction he developed a mad crush on the man, begun to love everything the weirdo did. Which goes back to the ominous question...why the hell would he kill him? Or want to?

“Well then, what are you going to do?” Gundam asked with very little hesitation. Souda’s eyes watered up, he felt his throat close up, despite his thoughts his body was moving in for the kill. He looked up at the man, then back at the ground. Then at the man. A tiny stream of hot water ran down the side of his face. He felt the hatchet rise up with his arm that felt like it was made of lead. Nevertheless, nothing was stopping the movement, it was fluid, and going straight down for the skull.

Before the impact was made of shattering bones and splattering blood, Souda shot from his bed like a rocket and screamed bloody murder.

After screaming his lung out, Souda took slow, deep breaths. He hadn’t realized that he was dreaming until he grabbed at his face then extended one of his hands out in front of him to see if he was moving him, himself. He was still in horror even after finding out it was just another nightmare. He still was shaken up like it all was true, was haunting him and going to continue to. Hell, haunting wasn’t even the right word to describe it. It was just living inside of him. 

Just a nightmare. Just wasn’t the word to describe it. It was a nightmare on top of hundreds of others he has had within the last year. Progressively getting worse. He had to see Hagakure or someone, anyone but the damn doctor. There was a meaning to all these murder surrounding nightmares. But at the moment,, Souda couldn’t find himself to put himself in a awkward position with the fake ass Clairvoyant, not now at least.

Still shaking visibly like a babe in the cold night, Souda curled into himself before Leon had bursted through the door no more than a second after the motion. Souda expected to be scolded, but Leon’s face was the contrary. He was actually quite worried by the whole ordeal.

He quickly walked up to Souda’s bed and sat down. He smelled of cloves heavily, which was irritating, but just having a person in his presence calmed him down a little bit. The pink haired mechanic was staring at the wall in front of him eyes big and glossy. Leon cautiously gazed at the gradually breaking figure, not an intimidating or threatening stare, but a stare of concern and what the hellness.

“Sou?” Leon put a hand on Souda’s shoulder.

Souda’s natural brown eyes shot over to Leon then back at the poster covered wall in front of him. 

Leon figured that he wasn’t going to get a direct answer by just asking, so he stuck with the assumption good guess game. “Another nightmare?” Leon asked softly. Souda barely nodded.

Leon took his hand back to his body and sighed, “Do you wanna talk about it?”

Souda shook his head. 

Leon nodded his head multiple times dismissively, “Alright, then, do you want a glass of water?”

Souda nodded. Leon took off to the kitchen faster than Souda could think “Wait a minute.” No more than a minute was Leon back with a glass, he was very diligent about this. Even though it wasn’t the first time he’d have to deal with this. If it was bad enough, Souda wouldn’t talk about it. So he knew it was bad.

“...” Souda sat there silently staring at the wall. Leon sat there as well, waiting for Souda to move. 

Suddenly Souda got up from his bed and began walking in circles. 

Leon just waited, sat up and watched until he fell asleep. He couldn’t stay up all night watching or waiting for Souda to break down and tell him. It wasn’t going to happen like that. He could tell by Souda’s posture, he was guarded even after a good hunk of time elapsed from when he woke up.

-x-

The next day, early morning, Leon was still passed out on Souda’s bed. Meanwhile, the tormented of the two didn’t go back to bed, instead he tried to relax or convince himself to calm down and formulate what he would tell Leon about the atrocity that his brain made up in the night. He had to at least vocalize something to the man who treated him like a legit brother. No way in hell would someone else in their class (besides probably Hinata, Sonia, Nanami or Komaeda...he hopes Gundam too) take care of Souda like how Leon does and tries to. Most people were selfish, looking into their own problems and tribulations and letting whoever around go through whatever the hell they went through.

It had barely been a minute past 8AM before Leon stirred in his sleep, then yawned himself awake. The pink haired mechanic calmly watched the punk rocker rise with grogginess from the bed. He wanted to immediately thank him for trying to watch him but Leon’s face said ‘save it’, even though the man just woke up a few seconds prior.

“You better?” Leon asked.

Souda barely nodded, “Yeah, I just had to get my head together, I felt...myself deteriorating for a sec…”

“Sou...you need to talk about this stuff…”

Souda gave a very stiff laugh, almost too forced and fake for a guy like him. He shook his head, “No, I am fine, well not fine but better...I just want to tell you what happened and also to thank you for being so kind…”

“Damn, you’re acting like I don’t give a fuck…” Leon shook his crazy red bed head with an apparent frown.

Souda gave another short yet exhausted laugh before he rolled into his explanation of the nightmare. When Souda got to the hatchet part, Leon winced openly but put his two sense in. To him it sounded like Souda had some real emotional issues. The redhead kept commenting about how he’s ‘not a expert or any of that shit’ but he kept a good ear open and gave feedback. After Souda was finished telling every detail he could, Leon waited for a minute before saying, 

“You shouldn’t go into work today.”

Souda opened his mouth to retort but Leon beat him to the punch.

“Listen, ya’ really a mess man,” he pointed out scratching his goatee. “I don’t even know if ya’ should even continue liking this guy, all he’s doing is avoiding you like you got the black plague…you already have those nightmares...why add more to your plate?”

The mechanic opened his mouth again to retort with ‘I don’t think that’s what it is’, but Leon can be very forceful with his advice. And he hated to admit it but Leon did make a valid point. Even though some depict the guy as a man who goes along with it or doesn’t care. When the guy says something, he often just says it and expects you to follow along because he said something dictorative for once. So, to save himself from getting in an argument, Souda bit his lip and let Leon continue.

“I know...easier said than done...but...I can’t watch ya’ keep doing this…”

“It started before I even liked---”

“Bullshit.” Leon cut in, “This is making ya’ stressed out...I think even beyond ya’ limitation...” Leon huffed.

Souda sighed audibly loud and gave a very tired, “I’m sorry, I’m kind of brain dead right now...” which is true. He was running on fumes and all of Leon’s words on the issue sort of turned into ambience. He honestly didn’t feel like going into everything going on in his head, or even how to go about it. Explaining the nightmare helped but, that took all the energy out of him itself.

On the contrary, Leon had an idea and wanted to force something out of his friend, but at the same time he knew he shouldn’t press the matter. Truth be told, it was the sort of topic that one should not be discussed early in the morning and with little rest.

For awhile, both of the men sat in the room in silence till Souda’s alarm went off. Souda jumped violently in his place whereas Leon pressed the snooze button for the shaken guy; then, he just stared at Souda with his eyebrows drawing in, forming a dark line. For a good while he stayed like that before briskly getting up from his roommates bed. 

Souda exhaled heavily putting a shaky palm to his head.

“Hey, I’m serious though…” The pink haired man looked over his shoulder towards the doorway where Leon paused. He continued, “Ya’ need to take a day off...I don’t need ya’ crashin’ n’ burnin’ at fuckin’ 20 somethin’ years old…”

Souda struggled to give a laugh when Leon said that. He nodded once then turned his attention towards his bed having nothing else to do but just throw himself in it.

-x-

If he could count how many times he goes to sleep and hopes that he doesn’t have a nightmare, the number would be close to 365 days. Perhaps even a little over, when you count the times he takes short naps.

By the time Souda woke up from a rare peaceful sleep, the sky was a pitch black and the moon was high. It was night time already, the day had passed by pretty quickly. It made sense that he slept through a whole day almost, given the fact that he has only slept for three-four hours on average every single night. Then he’d have to get up and go at work, wrench and tinker with cars to perfection. It definitely wasn’t a job he could half ass. Lots of people depended on their cars to go wherever, and because of the reliance, lots of people have trust issues with mechanics, being taxed something that wasn’t what was worked on or supposedly fixing one problem and then another occurs.

It all is just stressful.

Thinking about it made Souda’s head hurt. He should probably try to eat something since he hasn’t eaten all day.

“I go out with you for a day, a day and I find out you’re double timing me! What the fuck Leon?!” 

“Who the hell?” Souda mumbled to himself throwing his blankets off of him. Who is yelling at this time of day?

Is that Sayaka shouting?

With droopy eyes, he looked over at the door, it was left ajar, so he could very faintly see the shadows dancing against the hall wall. 

The one with the more feminine shape was flailing crazily, as one paced back in forth like an defense attorney in court.

“Listen it’s not what you think…” Leon started very slowly, almost like he was drugged or drunk. Probably, given the fact that it took him awhile to respond to what Sayaka said a minute ago.

“Leon! This is, I am done! I asked you if you were different from back then...but I find out that you only did this because you wanted to use me! You hadn’t changed one bit!”

“Did what? What did I do Sayaka?” It sounded like a scene from that horrible ‘The room’ movie. Souda shook his head and got up from his bed to see what was going on, and if Sayaka wasn’t flailing a knife in her hand about to stab Leon. 

Still groggy, he opened the door to the hallway and slid his bare feet down the plush white carpet muttering how bright the light in the kitchen was to himself. 

“You tricked me!” Sayaka’s voice sounded so loud up close, Souda’s ear legitimately popped. “You knew all along your heart wasn’t in it! You sat there, puppy eyed, at my fucking doorstep and lied!”

“I did not, now that’s a lie right there!” Leon was slurring a bit, and he even was swaying as he paced the kitchen and living room. 

“I’m done, I’m so done...I can’t believe you’d do this to me! Out of everyone, me! The best person you’ll ever be with! I hope you have a good fucking time fucking around!” 

Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering, stopped all yelling and thoughts. Brown eyes went down to the counter where Leon’s fist was balled up, covered in glassware and blood. Sayaka silently screamed for a moment looking at the man like he had gone crazy. Only, the silence lasted for a second when Leon accurately threw another glass out the opened window, probably hitting someone on the sidewalk outside. Souda said an ‘oh shit’ while Sayaka screamed like she was the one being hit by the glass.

Things escalated very quickly and Souda wasn’t sure if he could hold himself together to deal with Leon’s anger.

“Leon! What are you doing?!”

“Get the fuck out Sayaka!” Leon screamed, “Get. The. Fuck. Out!”

Sayaka was shaken, eyes dilated to a bright blue and hands clasped in front of her heart like it was going to jump out. She hesitated a little bit, half of her wanting to stay, another half of her wanting to flee, however as much as Souda was unstable for the moment, it was better for her to just go, damage was done. Her sticking around would only piss Leon off even more.  
For a minute, her wide, tear clinged blue eyes shot to the slim figure standing in the shadows of the hallway. 

Still feeling like he was barely hanging on to sanity himself, Souda managed a weak nod and walked further into the light about to roll himself into another shit stack. 

Sayaka left promptly, running to the front door and closing it not too silently behind her.

As soon as the front door closed, Souda braced himself for Leon to throw more objects around the room or pick up a baseball bat and bash a few things. Quite the contrary happened, the punk rocker took a quick glance at his roommate, then quietly retreated to his room muttering things to himself. The door was shut closed with force, much more force than necessary that it didn’t actually close, it just opened back up. Leon let out a frustrated grunt but didn’t even bother to close it. Souda decided to leave Leon alone and retreat to his own room.

-x-

Next day…

Monday. Man, when people say Monday’s suck they really do. Especially when your roommate had tossed around everything like a tornado and you have to stay up and use the rest of your energy to comfort said roommate. 

Not only that, but Monday really sucks when you have plans to apologize or talk to someone and they don’t show up. Souda was surprised Gundam wasn’t there Tuesday either. Nor Wednesday. 

It took for Thursday afternoon to hit that Souda felt like something really bad happened. After his nightmare of him bringing a hatchet down on his head, his paranoia has heightened greatly.

He was currently sitting at the front desk of his garage with his lunch when he realized he had to see what was up with Gundam. Bad thing was, he had no lines of communication besides running over to his shop unexpectedly. 

“...”

“...”

“...Hello?”

“Hinata?”

“Hey, I haven’t heard from you in awhile...what’s up?”

“Gundam hasn’t been to work in four days... Hinata I honestly...I think...I think he was murdered...I had this dream wher-”

“Wait a second.” Hinata interrupted, stopping himself short from laughing. Souda halted in the middle of saying something else, so his mouth was hanging open catching flies. If Hinata saw Souda’s face he would’ve laughed, but they were over the phone so he missed it. Anyways, Hinata continued, “Did you say you think he was murdered?”

“...yeah? I had this dream where I killed him with a fucking hatchet, but it might be a premonition!”

Hinata let out a rough laugh, “What? You’re a pink haired axe murderer now?”

Souda’s face turned red from embarrassment and irritation. “Dude? Why are you laughing? And stop making references! I’m serious! It was horrible!”

“Listen, stop worrying, okay? Gundam is just sick.”

The mechanic raised a skinny brow, “What do you mean?”

“He has a cold, a bad one, he hasn’t been working because of it.”

“Wait a second, who told you?”

“He did. Well I saw it for myself...I heard a rumor that he was dead, but I went over to his place and he was alive.”

“What? You didn’t tell me? Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, just found out last night…also I called you once and you didn’t answer so...”

“Tch, ‘oh I just found out last night’, ‘I called you once.’...” Souda mimicked, “What the hell? I’ve been worrying for five days!”

“Sorry…” Hinata half assed, rolling his eyes on the other end.

“Whatever, what’s done is done, I’m just glad he’s not ignoring me, or avoiding me.” There was a very long silence after what he said. Another voice picked up on the other line, talking beside Hinata, it was almost directly in the phone. “Hello? Hinata?” Souda asked slightly confused. 

Then there was static and the sound of something like wind blowing against the receiver, causing a hollowed ear piercing howl. Souda winced away from the phone and sighed, “Hinata? Did you hang up on me?”

“Sorry about that, I dropped my phone.”

“Shit man, I was scared for a second.”

“Why? You thought I was murdered by a hatchet?”

Souda shook his head, “Knock it off…” he sighed, trying to get himself some lead way... “Listen, can you just...I dunno give me his number or something?”

“You don’t have it?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Oh, let me pull it up...” Hinata then told Souda his phone number. “I would go with you but I don’t want to cock block.”

Souda fisted his hair in annoyance. “Why is everyone saying that?” he grunted in frustration.

“Heh, someone else did?”

“That doesn’t matter, ugh…” Souda muttered feeling his cheeks heat up from the comment. “It’s going to be really awkward though...’”

“Just don’t be creepy like how you were with Sonia and you’ll be fine.” Hinata joked, Souda's face reddened. It didn't take him too much to blush. 

“...Hey! That was a long time ago!” he yelled. 

“What by a couple years?” Hinata scoffed offhandedly, “Listen, it’ll be fine, stop being a wuss. Anyways, we'll chat later I sort of have to go, you know, working and on a phone is not good especially when your boss is a fucking perfectionist, obsessive and compulsive dick. I see his shadow coming down the hallway...”

“Huh? Wait Hinata!”

“What?”

“What’s his address?”

“You want to go over there? Just call and ask him yourself.” And then the line was cut off by beeps. Souda cursed silently punching ‘end’ on his side. Damn, now it was all up to him to call.

Souda stared at the number he had written on a notepad for a couple of minutes. He was debating if he should call him now, or call after his day of work was over.

Reluctantly, after what felt like eons passed in thinking, Souda decided to call Gundam as he was at lunch. The numbers shook on his phone screen. Ugh, he got it bad...

“...” the phone ringed once before a click was heard on the other line. Souda almost shat in his pants, completely taken off guard. 

“...Hello?” Souda knew why he hesitated a bit, probably because he didn't recognize the number. Usually that's what normal people do, however, he answered the phone diligently like he knew it.

“Uh Hi!” the mechanic blurted out, a little too crisp. 

“Who is this?” the baritone sounded from the other side. Ugh, the back and forth game featuring squeaky, prepubescent voiced Kazuichi Souda and somehow sexy hotline sounding Gundam Tanaka. 

Souda nervously put a hand on the counter, his face heating up in embarrassment. ‘Oh my god, what the hell is my problem? I just shouted ‘Hi’ in the phone like a idiot, how fucking stupid is that?!’ Souda thought bitterly to himself. Feeling like his brain was a car rushing to a red light, he took a deep breath to gather himself. Though unpurposely, he accidentally breathed out part of his next sentence making himself more of a mess. “Hi," he repeated again our of nerves, "Uhm, it’s...Kazuichi...Souda!” his face was cringed up like he was preparing to be hit by a truck, “Uhm...I know it’s unexpected but uh, I heard you got sick and uh, well I noticed you weren’t at your shop around this time and well...uhm…”

“So you called me?” Gundam rather, impatiently summarized sounding rough and raspy over the phone.

Souda gulped, nodding like the other could see him. “Yeah! That’s what happened, yes sir.” 'Yes sir?! Where did that come from?' 

“I see-Cough cough cough- Excuse me. -cough- -cough- couuuuggh- Ack!” Souda eyes widened with wide eyes as he heard Gundam coughing up a lung. Holy shit, sick was an understatement, he sounded like he was dying. 

“Jesus, you okay? Ya’ sound horrible.”

“Heheh -cough-, I am not Jesus, and yes, I am fine, I should be okay.” Gundam didn’t even sound convinced himself, from when the hell did he get sick within Friday night to Saturday? 

“No. You are not.” Souda sighed, “Man, ya’ need me to do...or like come--I mean, get ya’ anything?”

“I am fi-”

“Stop rejecting me!” Souda suddenly blurted out. He heard Gundam groan in distaste of shouting but that was it. The silence that ensued after that was very awkward, supremely awkward. A few couple seconds passed when he realized he had to clean up what he just said or did. “I...uh mean," 'Dammit, Souda get yourself together'. "Well, I mean." He repeated. "Let me help at least…” Souda mumbled feeling his cheeks warm up. If Hinata could go over, why not him? He was very close to bringing it up but decided to feign ignorance on the matter and continue. “Ya’ sound really bad and I’m concerned...” his voice lowered as if he were in a quiet waiting room and didn’t want anyone else to hear. 

For a long while, Gundam was silent on the phone. Souda didn’t really bother to say anything, to see if he hung up on him. However,

“Fine…” 

“Huh?”

“I am not resisting, I was only advising…but since your so persistent...” he trailed off all prophetical, like he had all the reasons in the world to prevent Souda from coming over. Souda hadn’t sensed that at all and was elated to even get through to the surprisingly stubborn man.

"I can come over? he asked like he was a little kid asking for a playdate. 

"Yes, you can."

“Good.” he chirped. 

Gundam just coughed on his end.

“Well, I’ll see ya’ later this afternoon.”

“...yes, of course...”  
Then the phone cut off immediately. He didn't give Souda a chance to say 'good-bye', but anything goes right?

Proud of himself, Souda exhaled heavily putting his phone down on the counter. It was such a relief to get that over with and finally get some closure to the whole mystery. Towards the end, it sounded like Souda sort of forced Gundam into agreement. Whatever, as long as it goes through and he gets to see the man. Hell, it's not the first time he's been slightly forceful. 

Bzzt. Bzzt.

Souda heard buzzing near him. It went on for a while before he finally looked down at his phone to see that Gundam's number was on the screen, he was calling back. Oh god, was he cancelling that soon? Damn. 

“H-hey?” he answered less pepper then last time, but more worry in his tone. 

“I think you forgot something...” the lower toned resonated. 

“Huh? What? I did?” thin pink eyebrows rose up.

There was a second silence. “...oh, well...I guess not, nevermind, good bye then.” He replied like he suddenly forgot himself. Maybe the cold got to his brain. 

“Uhh...okay? Bye?”

Then he hung up again without saying anything. Weird. Guess he wasn’t the talking on the phone type, or was supremely awkward....

...Just that thought made Souda’s cheeks go pink. Gundam, awkward and embarrassed? God, can he get anymore irresistible?

Souda stared at his phone daydreaming for awhile before it finally clicked why he called probably. He forgot to ask for his address. "Of course, you dumbass, how in the hell are you going to get over there?" he mumbled to himself feeling utterly stupid. Souda had to bother the man again because of his forgetfulness. So, he tried to call back and ask, but he didn’t answer. As a back up he sent him a text asking for his address. Not too long after, Gundam text his address in perfect punctuation. Souda started laughing at how endearing the man was. To the outsider, he looked like a weirdo giggling at a message on his phone like a school girl.

Wait, he needs to calm down, he’s at work, in a smelly jumpsuit, at his front desk. It really isn’t the best place to begin fanboying over some guy after a conversation. Especially if a customer walks in, they’re going to think ‘what the hell is wrong with this guy’? Do machines get him that riled up?

Souda put a excitedly shaky hand on his face and sighed. He couldn’t work and be this flustered at the same time, how weird would that look? Him tinkering with a car with a dark pink hue on his cheeks? Of course, nobody was around to see it but still, it wasn’t normal for him to think about. 

He spent the rest of his day, cleaning the glass on windows until he clocked out. Forced to stare at his own still blushing pink face...

Damn. He got it bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This short little baby is finally out. ACK. c:  
> and Souda finally gets to go up in Gundam's home. ohohohohoho, if this was rated M, well the inevitable would happen, but see, this is fluff. Perhaps I will write some smut in the future. (strokes chin) hmhmhm!  
> This chapter here is sort of an intermission chapter, I guess. The ending was crappy, I know but y'know w/o beta readers and stuff, you can't really write masterpieces (unless you're that awesome) xD  
> Anyways... I expect, or well, my goal is to update with a new chapter shortly after this. I dunno, two or three days. Feel free to comment! And kudos make my heart rejoice. <3 Love you all who keep reading this and giving support~ (ી(΄◞ิ౪◟ิ‵)ʃ)♥


	5. No Grey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SHSL Caretaker Kazuichi Souda to the rescue to aid pink pajama bottoms

**No Grey**

 

**;**

 

 

“Yeah, my friend, he’s like fighting a cold and I don’t know what I should get him?”

The pharmacist raised an eyebrow and physically looked like they were trying to imagine the scenario of a guy in a tacky yellow jumpsuit, fading hot pink hair dye, and baggy eyes, capability of taking care of someone. It seems like Souda should be the one being taken care of.

“Uhm, well...what stage is the cold in? Or is it not a regular cold?”

“Maybe…” Souda began to trail off, not too familiar with medical crap. Hell, for all he knew, he would just have to use his wrench on his throat and tighten up a loose screw and it’d make him all better. Not literally, but, it’s just that Souda isn’t too good with the common health knowledge. Shit, he knew he should’ve called Tsumiki for some advice, but her credence with him is sort of tarnished since she was the one who unexpectedly spread a rumor and caused social drama amongst his small group of socialites.

“Well... all I know is that he sounds bad, like he got a hoarse cough and he can’t talk too much without going into a fit.”

“...huh, are you sure it’s just a cold?”

“Yeah, I think...but even if it isn’t...is there something like, I dunno generic? Not generic, but like universal?”

“Like cough medicine?”

“Yeah! You have good cough medicine right?”

“Yeah, but if you want the real heavy duty medicine you’ll have to call in a prescription, however that will take a while to fill out so…”

“Ah, I see.” Souda commented picking up a bottle of claritin. 

The pharmacist looked at him then shook their head, snatching the bottle from Souda’s hands. “No, that won’t do.” Souda frowned but she continued on, “Aisle 7 holds all the medicine you need for coughing, now be sure to look at the label with the symptoms and also keep an eye out for nighttime. Usually nighttime gets the bug out quicker...if his circumstances allow it.”

“Oh, thank you! Ah, aisle 7 right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, thanks again.” Souda nodded his head and ducked away from the counter. All twenty of the people waiting in line behind the pink haired man let out a few ‘thank goodness’’ and ‘I thought he’d never leave’ under their breath. Thankfully they said it out of earshot, but it wasn’t like he heard them anyways, he was down the aisle in less than a second.

-x-

**Knock Knock**

“-cough-”

**Knock Knock**

“Argh…coming...”

**Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock**

“One second mortal!” Gundam shouted greatly, or attempted to, when in actuality he sounded like a lion with a stoma. With no ounce of grace, he stumbled his way to his front door meanwhile wrapping his scarf heavily around his face to prevent any elements from outside to make him sicker or to make whoever came over cursed with the fits of scratchy throat and hot puffs. 

**Knock Knock ******

One last time the door wrapped with knockings before it flew open with too much force for someone who felt like their insides were melting. 

There on the other side stood Kazuichi Souda, mouth flapping open and eyes going wide after dipping down. “Oh, uh--h-h-hi…is this a good time?” his face was beet, bloody red, redder than Gundam’s heterochromic red eye. The latter didn’t understand why at all, till he looked down and realized he was wearing nothing but his usual purple scarf and bright pink pajama pants. He didn’t even have the energy to conceal his pale body behind the door. So instead he just grunted and stepped to the side like nothing was seen. He was glad the cold made his face all pink, or else it would’ve been obvious he was embarrassed. 

Souda very nervously shuffled into the warm abode hugging the little brown bag he had clasped in his hands like his soul was being carried inside. He took in his surroundings very quickly, trying to be polite and less intrusive. 

His apartment was relatively less cluttered than he would expect, well, coming from a pigpen like Souda, it wouldn’t be much praise. However Gundam is very clean for a man who is a animal breeder. Not too clean to the point where it seemed like a hospital room, it was cozily clean if that made any sense. He had expected a bunch of dogs and mice running around crazily like Tom and Jerry.

‘Okay, there’s a couch with a blanket...he claimed that area...which is okay but...oh never mind, there’s a chair supplementary to it. I can sit there.’ Souda thought looking discreetly at his surroundings. The entrance that he was in was actually treated like a separate room, like a closed off genkan with doors. Like a room where you throw your shoes off or when your drunk destructive friend sleeps if their too rowdy. Throw them a spare blanket and pillow and tell them good fucking night. 

Souda didn’t pay any attention to the shoes by the door and looked up at the taller man. He had noticed he look different, his hair was not in it’s tamed pompadour (not like mondo’s crazy ass hair). His streaked hair was actually styled like bangs with his undercut in the back. Souda spluttered outwardly like his eyes couldn’t take the sight in front of him, he’s never seen him like this. All sweaty and unstyled with pink pajama pants. 

Damn, pink pajamas gets him hot? Damn.

While Souda was ogling at a sick Gundam, Tanaka’s face was fixed at a perfect deadpan and every scratch of protruding bone on his porcelain pale skin was visible. Souda stole another glance at the body and then had to avert his eyes before he came on too much. He knows that Gundam isn’t the type of person to just fling a door open and say, “Make yourself at home! I was expecting you!” like normal people do. But that didn’t bother him at all, it was just...him being shirtless and just standing there that was the most unsettling. ‘Fucking hell, I can’t just stand here!’ Souda thought bitterly putting a hand on his forehead and closing his eyes, breaking his ‘cool and calm demeanor’. He only spent a few seconds around the man and he felt himself getting a fever.

“So...you actually came by…” Gundam’s croaky voice came from further in the apartment. The animal breeder magically came back from who knows where with a black knit sweater on. Which Souda was silently thankful of, though he was a little disappointed.

“Uhh, yeah, and I brought you something too!” Erratically, he nervously dug his hand into the bag and pulled out the recently purchased cough medicine that he bought at the pharmacy. Gundam raised his eyebrows.

“You bought cough syrup?” he said almost unbelievably. 

Souda nodded his head proud of his action and handed it to the animal breeder. “Yeah, all for you, I decided to get something on my way here…” his face turned red as he said it, realizing he made sure he said ‘all for you’. Ugh, what a sap.

“...I see…” Gundam paused for a second before he pulled his scarf over the bottom of his face, “Thank you.” he mumbled timidly, taking the medicine from Souda’s hands and putting it on the coffee table where he had unfinished cups with juice and a mug of tea next to a bowl of soup.

Souda was smiling outwardly at his achievement and took his converse off before heading straight to the unoccupied armchair he spotted earlier. Meanwhile, the sicker of the two had grabbed his bowl from the coffee table and walked over to the microwave to nuke it some more. The humming of the microwave filled the silence of the room until said microwave beeped and the door opened. Quiet as kept, Souda actually felt comfortable in the man’s home. He wouldn’t have expected to just nuzzle himself into a comfortable armchair, but he did. 

“Ah, curses…” Souda heard Gundam say out loud handling the bowl of soup. It was way too hot for him to just be handling with his bare hands.

“Oi! You need help with that?” Souda asked standing up from his seat walking over to the kitchen. Gundam was awkwardly positioned at the doorway with his elbows out. If he turned around the soup would’ve sloushed out on the ground creating a mess. But see, Souda isn’t observant. Well, not as observant as he should be, he’s a bit off since he had barely any sleep and a long day of work. He had no idea what possessed him when he thought reaching out and grabbing the bowl from around Gundam’s waist was going to help the situation in any shape or form.

“AH!” Souda screamed when hot soup splashed on his hand. The bowl clattering with the ground was heard and out of reflex, Gundam backed up into Souda who was trying to retract his hand but grabbed hold of Gundam’s waist.

Yeah, perfect.

If a volcano would sprout from the top of Gundam’s head it would. And if Souda could curl up and die, he would. 

He sat or rather stammered in place trying to get an apology out. “Oh my god! I’m so sorry, here let me clean-”

Gundam took a deep, congested breath. “It is fine, I will -cough- clean th-”

“No! You sit down, it’s my fault!” And take note, this was still said with a firm hand around Gundam’s waist.

Souda noticed the heat emitting from the others body before realizing his arm was wrapped around him like a present bow. He took his hand back and rubbed it like he had just touched a poison laced letter. 

“Argh...fine.” Gundam grunted stepping out of the way, his head ducked in his scarf like a turtle, with his eyes fixed ahead.

Souda didn’t expect him to just shrug away like that, but anything was better than watching Gundam struggle and clean up the mess. 

So, he got to cleaning, wiping up the mess that he made or consequently thought he caused. He wasn’t the most cleanest person so it took a bit more paper towels than what was necessary. In the end, he was just glad to have cleaned everything up. 

“Too bad, it smelled really good.” Souda muttered to himself getting up off of his knees, dusting them off. He looked over to where Gundam, who was reclined on the couch curled up in a throw blanket watching the nature channel. Souda’s eyes lidded as a smile spread across his face. Gundam had gone into a coughing fit which soon replaced the smile with concern. He forgot for a sec that he needed his nutrients. It was laughable how he soon became a caretaker for

“Hey, do you want me to heat up more soup?” Souda asked from the kitchen, his eyes fixed on Gundam’s figure. The bundle of blankets whipped around, showing a bang covered face.

“Yes, the rest should be in the refrigerator,” Gundam croaked out. Souda was so glad to hear that he didn’t have to cook anything legit, he’s a bad cook. Last thing he wanted to do was make Gundam throw up.

“Alright, will do.” he replied going back into the kitchen to heat up more soup. As he ducked into the refrigerator to look for the soup, he noticed there was a lot of vegetables, and amongst the shit ton of vegetables, there was a container. It had a bunch of hearts drawn on it, very messily with hot pink sharpie. Souda spluttered at the container and pulled it out for further investigation. Who dares does this?

“Uh...Gundam?” Souda shouted from the kitchen, “What the hell is this?”

“I can’t see from here…” Gundam’s hoarse voice gritted out.

“Uh, it’s a container with a bunch of hearts drawn on it?” he asked investigating it for any signs of who it belonged too. All he found new was that there was a number written on the side and a kissy face drawn next to it. 

“...that’s the soup…” Gundam answered, following with a cough.

“Who did this?” Souda didn’t want to sound overprotective but he suddenly felt the pang hit him. Yeah, who did this? Sonia? Tsumiki? Or maybe Junko trying to troll or some shit? 

Souda’s heart hammered hard as he waited for Gundam to answer. “Hanamura…” he said hesitantly, putting a clammy hand over his forehead like he should’ve thrown the shit away a long time ago. But hey, he was the Super High School Level cook...no, correction. Chef. What _dumb ass_ would throw away anything the chef boyardee looking midget cooks? 

After hearing that Teruteru’s horny ass drew a bunch of hearts on a soup container, Souda’s nerves calmed down a lot. He let out a few loud chuckles before grabbing a pot and putting the liquid onto the stove. He could hear Gundam muttering to himself in the other room. Probably telling the other to stop laughing about it.

Not too long did he have to wait for his soup, Souda had it in a new bowl and plopped it down in front of Gundam like he cooked it himself.

Gundam’s eyes were cast down for a second, till he looked up at Souda who stood there proudly hands on hips. “Enjoy.” Souda grinned. Gundam looked down at the soup before dipping and nibbling the spoon daintily. Souda watched the other eat it till Gundam looked over and raised an eyebrow,

“You can sit down if you want.” he muttered quietly before stuffing his mouth with more soup. 

“Oh, yeah, sorry…” he muttered quietly walking back to the chair. Unexpectedly, in the seat Gundam’s fat little hamsters were curled up asleep. Oh god, did he sit on them beforehand? “Uhhh…” Souda stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder at Gundam. “You’re uh, little friends are over in the chair.”

Albeit, Gundam looked over and sighed. 

“I mean, I don’t mind getting sick by you I mean, if you don’t want me to sit by ya’ that’s okay but I can sit next to you since there’s room...but if you need to stretch out I can be like a pillow or something...w-wait not like that...” before Souda could stop himself, he already done spoke too much. He mentally slapped himself.

“...” Gundam narrowed his eyes at Souda like he started speaking in German and was trying to translate what was being said. 

“Uhhh…or was that what you were trying to say earlier? Me sitting there?” Souda asked shyly, biting his lip.

Gundam let out another sigh and ate more of his soup. Jeez, Souda should write a book on how to take care of a guy and then piss him off in less than 10 minutes. “Just sit down.” he gritted out in between slurps. Despite his curt replies, he wasn’t at all pissed at Souda. However, he didn’t know though.

Lightning fast, Souda plopped down on the couch with his hands folded into this lap, eyes glued to the Television set.

Gundam looked over at Souda for a second before eating the soup a little slower than before.

There was no need for them to fill the silence with bullshit. They could just sit comfortably in each others presence, neither trying to disrupt the peace for a false sense of comfort. It was all that was needed for Souda to realize that he’s found someone truly special.

-x-

Souda had actually fallen asleep on Gundam’s couch. He had gotten so relaxed in the environment he just passed out; mouth hanging open with slobber dripping from his mouth, neck craned at a very uncomfortable angle. Gundam was awake sipping on tea that he made contently, not even thinking about disturbing the man’s slumber. Souda looked like he needed sleep bad. For a second Gundam thought that maybe he should be the one taking care of Souda after seeing his condition. In the middle of taking a sip from his tea, in his peripheral vision, he saw a creepy grin cross Souda’s features in his sleep.

It definitely did not look normal. It was probably an indirect sign to wake him up. A little too quickly, Gundam reached out and shook Souda’s shoulder gently. Almost immediately Souda woke up, his eyes shot wide open and his mouth instantly closed. 

“Huh?” he expressed in loud confusion. 

“...Erm…” Gundam tried to say something but something caught in his throat, causing him to cough instead. Souda had looked over at Gundam with his mouth gape. “You fell asleep and I woke you up.” Gundam said as if to recap why he felt something shake him, startling him. Of course it was obvious Gundam woke him up. He began coughing loudly.

Souda’s eyes widened like he realized that the whole day wasn’t part of his dream. “Oh...really? Damn, I fell asleep?”

Gundam nodded. 

It actually shocked Souda how quickly he fell asleep, it was hard for him to catch up on that nowadays. Maybe his body was running too much on fumes and had finally just shut down and forced sleep mode. “Shit that’s odd, I haven’t slept in days it feels like.” 

The animal breeder raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Souda. Yeah, seriously, he looked like he didn’t sleep in days. “Is your career weighing down on you?” he asked surprising Souda for a moment when he actually replied to a conversation topic other than ‘soup’ or ‘animals’.

Souda scratched the side of his face, “Ah, somewhat...I guess that is the source?” He really wanted to say, ‘no, just life being a dick’, but he would sound so whiny and bitchy. Ending up going down a list of shit that pisses him off or stresses him out. Which is everything. “I keep having nightmares.” he blurted out, opening up. “...Not those falling forever in the sky type, like real people I know, death and torture, and what I think are supposed to be executions at a circus?” he mumbled almost ashamed of how bizarre it sounded, ‘Yeah, I dream of people dying every week in bizarre ways.’ 

Gundam furrowed his eyebrows. He let a moment of silence lasp till he finally said something. “Every week?” 

“For awhile it was constantly _every night_ …” he admitted ashamed. “I’m surprised when I get a break.”

“Hm...interesting...” he thought eying the colored liquid in his mug, attempting to commiserate with Souda’s ordeal. 

“Just now though, I didn’t have one...I slept like a untainted baby.”

Gundam let out a short laugh sipping from his tea once again. Souda looked over at Gundam and watched him drink. 

The two fell into another silence, similar to the one that night at Komaeda and Tsumiki’s surprise party. It was comfortable though, despite the weird animal mating that was playing on the T.V. 

Souda looked over at the T.V. and grimaced comically. “Oh god, shouldn’t they censor that?”

Curious, he gazed up at the screen. A smile pulled on his face. “Does it bother you?”

Taken off guard, Souda looked over at Gundam then furrowed his eyebrows. “Huh?”

“The ritual in which two conjugate for copulation or consummation.”

Souda grabbed his beanie and pulled it over half of his face. Blush etching across his face with a dark pink hue. He really didn’t want to say it himself did he? “Man, that’s a weird way to describe it.” Gundam snorted as if it was normal for him to use his roundabout way of saying ‘fuck’. “To be honest no, but uh...animals aren’t aware they’re being filmed, and here the cameramen are, making a animal porno and broadcasting it for us to see.” Souda explained glancing back at the T.V. to see that part was over.

“Perhaps they are aware.” 

Souda turned to look back at Gundam who pretended like he didn’t say anything else and sipped at his tea some more. The former felt very, very dumb for mentioning obliviousness of animals in a freaking Super Animal Lover’s presence. “Uh yeah, guess they're into that type of stuff, I guess it’s their version of sex tapes?”

Gundam choked on his tea shaking his head. “I would assume they don’t care anymore…” he completely glazed over Souda’s comment. He wrinkled his nose after a wet cough, huddling into his blanket more, “If cameras were everywhere we were, it would be unsettling, however, after a while we may gaze into the lens and shrug, having gotten used to the feeling of being watched.”

“I don’t think I’d get used to that.” he muttered distractedly, scratching the back of his head. Watching a female elephant trample over it’s own kid. Souda grimaced but continued on the topic to distract himself from what he just saw. ”I’d have to find blind spots or something. Pretty damn creepy if you ask me. Invading personal space forcefully like that.” The animal breeder made a soft ‘hm’. “I guess that’s when the animals attack because of that...”

“You’re not really fond of animals...are you?” 

The question caught Souda off guard, he looked over at Gundam with a quirked up eyebrow. How the hell was this going to pan out? “I only like domestic ones.” he mused with a smile. Gundam chuckled, putting his mug down gently on the coffee table. He coughed some more as he wrapped himself in a tighter cocoon. 

“Makes sense.”

“I don’t really like bears though…”

“Hmmm…” Gundam hummed, “Now I know what to get you for your birthday.” he deadpanned.

Souda’s face cringed between a grimace and a smile. “Ah, c’mon man, that’s not even right.” 

“I’d probably choose a grizzly bear cub…”

“Aren’t those aggressive as hell?! Are you trying to kill me?” Souda spluttered. Since when did Gundam begin to threaten people with animals? Not that he thought he was serious but the grin on his face kind of made him hard to read.

“Yes they are, but the polar bears are more aggressive.” 

“...Gundam, I don’t like where this is going….”

“Don’t worry, Grizzly bears are very tolerant of humans when you have a smoke with them on a moss covered log. They see us as uptight, going into the woods with expensive weather wear...it’s truly offensive to them, it’s almost like you’re challenging them to a fashion contest.” Gundam expressed with all seriousness in his face, a small smirk but not a wide joking grin. This was slightly disturbing to Souda.

“What?! Eh...are you okay?”

Gundam let out his deep laugh, closing his eyes. “I’m giving you insight as to the mind of a Ursus arctos horribilis...”

“...what is horrible?”

Gundam’s eyes flickered to Souda’s form. “It may come in handy one day…especially if it will be your future pet...”

Souda had no idea what to say after that, he expected to just laugh it off, but instead he just nodded like he understood whatever the hell Gundam ranted about. He honestly didn’t want a grizzly bear cub.

“Well, I’ll prepare, since my birthday is a little under a whole year away.”

“...”

“...”

“.......”

Souda turned towards the bundle of blankets with his eyebrows furrowed. “...Gundam? Hello-? Oh.” He had fallen asleep in the middle of a conversation. Wow, when the hell could he pull a Nanami? “Must be his body trying to fight off the cold.” he muttered to no one in particular. As he looked at the clock on his phone, it read 12:O5 AM. Damn, it was time for him to go anyways. Quietly, he got up from the couch and turned the T.V. off. Then he started towards the genkan about to leave. As he was making his way to the door, he looked back at Gundam for a second, then back at the door, then at him, then back at the door. He sighed realizing that he was a sucker and turned around to face the living room area.

“Damn, I can’t just leave ya’ here like this. Gonna wake up with a crook.” he walked back over to the couch and sighed. Sun-D, Maga-G, Jum-P and Cham-P, all watched Souda pace back. Well, all three of the Gods of Destruction except for a still sleeping Jum-P. “I’ll just take ya’ to your bed and then leave.” he kept talking to himself as he wrapped both his arms around the blanketed cocoon and lifted. As he did that, he felt his vein surge in his neck.

“Ah, fuck! You’re heavy!” As best as he could, Souda lifted, or more dragged the bottom half of Gundam off the couch and onto the wooden floor. Somehow, in his weakened state he got Gundam to his bedroom but he dropped him a couple of times, giving the guy a few bruises on his body. “Sorry man, you may wake up wondering what the fuck happened to you.” he mumbled an apology before walking back out into the living room. Why’d it feel like he just committed murder and stuffed the body into a bedroom for it took look natural?

…

Souda didn’t like the fact that his brain thought of that scenario. So he made his way to the genkan, slipped his converse on, before bolting out, closing the door shut.

-x-

“So you didn’t tell him anything? You just chatted about animals and cameras? I thought you were getting somewhere with the on the knees cleaning the floor part...” 

“What the fuck else was I supposed to do Hinata? Fucking ride him on the couch like some wanton cheap prostitute?”

“Whoa, I didn’t say all that shit.” Hinata grimaced like the image had burned his retinas from the inside out.

Souda took a massive bite out of his burger and groaned through a half full mouth, “Fuck man, I mean he was sick alright? I was just concerned for his comfort and health. I felt like his housewife or somethin’.”

“You know you may have to stop eating meat around him...right?” Hinata pointed out poking the greasy paper bag with a burger logo on it.

Souda swallowed the juicy fat meat and groaned, “I’m not around him right now, do you see him around?” he gestured wildly. Hinata snorted, “Anyways what I was about to say, was that I checked on him and he said he’s still sick, but he will show up to work Monday.”

“Well, at least you’re communicating, better than nothing I guess…” Hinata shrugged off eying the big gulp em cup Souda had with his burger. Hinata had encouraged Souda to have lunch with him to try and add pounds onto his lithe figure. He wasn’t going to eat the greasy, fattening food himself, however he was going to eat a couple of fries as he held onto the coffee cup he bought from a starbucks down the block from the joint. Bribing the mechanic with over 2,000 calorie intake burgers from his favorite place had him up and out of the garage. It worked and he found it successful.

Souda rolled his magenta eyes offended by Hinata’s sudden passive remarks. “Hey, it’s not that bad. Just because you’re relationship with Komaeda rocketed off like a damn space shuttle doesn’t mean you have to be so hard on me.”

“What? I didn’t say any of that!” Hinata defended, half of his face scrunched up like he sucked on a lemon. Unbelieving that Souda was just jumping to conclusions.

Clicking his tongue, Souda waved the brunette off, taking another sip from his drink. “Anyways as I was saying~”

“Wait, Souda." Souda looked at Hinata with squinted eyes, "What the hell was that? You just became bitchy all of the sudden.”

“I’m not being bitchy!”

"Yes you were." Hinata deadpanned half lidding his eyes. 

“Argh, now I'm bitchy suddenly to you? Damn. You're the one who--never mind, it's nothing..." he cut himself off before he got in a fight with Hinata. Nothing good was going to come out of him arguing over something petty. "Despite everything I just said....I think I'm feeling a little better.” Souda said suddenly, changing the subject. Hinata was glad to do so, for he could’ve got Souda kicked out of the same burger joint once again for disturbing the business' peace. 

Hinata sipped his luke warm coffee, “I can vouch for that. You sound and look a little better, I see you touched your hair up and finally took a shower." Souda guffawed at that comment, "Overall, I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks…sounds a little weird coming from a pessimist like you but I’ll take it.”

“Whatever.” Hinata looked to the side as Souda devoured the rest of his lunch like a starved inmate.

“Ah, I can’t believe I ate all that greasy shit.” he let out a loud burp, which Hinata fanned away with his hand, muttering ‘gross’.

“Ugh, me neither, but I’m glad you did. Just don’t throw it up or anything.”

Souda let out a weak laugh balling the paper bag up. “Yeah, I’ll try…as long as I don’t get shit faced tonight.”

“What? Going out tonight?”

“It was a surprise for me but I found out through resources." Hinata rolled his eyes at Souda, "But yeah, you can come if you want...well actually I’d like you to be there. Leon had planned for us guys to go to a bar...I’m not sure if I want to be around Leon and Mondo drunk off their ass.”

“Good luck with that, I ain’t going near those muscleheads.” Hinata scoffed looking to the side. Souda sighed, 

“I knew you were going to say that.”

“Thanks for inviting me though.”

“Yeah...sure…” he trailed off finishing the rest of his drink. 

“Are you sure you want to go out with them? You might be tangled into something else like last time.”

“Yeah, but that was.”

“This is coming from a neutral standpoint...but you can't take those two lightly. That Mondo guy is _crazy_ , we were in jail for a night because he threw that guy out the window and beat him in the street like a dog, then you got involved because you broke a bottle over his friends head, and then somehow I got involved which I don’t remember…”

“You flipped their table over…”

“Whatever, the point is...whenever you go out with that Mondo guy, you always get into some shit. I heard stories back in high school...”

“I’ll be fine...don’t worry Mondo has changed a bit! And also you got off on the hype too!”

“Yeah but do you know how pissed my parents were when they found out I destroyed public property? I don't always get in trouble like that...that was one time.”

“I understand where ya’ comin’ from bro, but everything will be okay! Everything will be under control...”

 

And it fucking wasn’t. Control was the absolute _opposite_ of what word could be used to describe this quagmire that Leon said was a ‘guys night out’.

Souda should have listened to Hinata earlier that afternoon. He didn’t end up in jail, neither of them did, however, Leon was in the hospital and Mondo was bandaged up like a mummy.

“That fucking asshole, I’ll kill him!” 

“Didn't I tell you guys not to go to the same bar where we had that encounter before?” Souda did not understand their logic, and was pissed that in the end he was right and his warning should've been heeded. The guy that got beaten in the street had brought all his friends from wherever the fuck in Japan and thought it was cool to freaking smash chairs on people’s heads and start a bar fight.

Mondo had gotten cut up with knives and glasses, while Leon practically had all the chairs around a table thrown at his head, knocking him out cold. Souda thankfully dodged the bullet out of chance. He stepped outside to call Gundam when suddenly he heard yelling coming from inside the bar. He looked inside just to see the staff yell into the phone calling the cops, and Mondo charging out with Leon hefted on his back. 

They were going to be in the news later on that night. Famous students from Hopes Peak got fucking bodied by random gang members. So much for Japan's future hope.

Yeah, a emaciated mechanic, one legit gang member, and a novice rockstar against 30+ dudes smashed in a shit hole.

“This fuckin' sucks, Leon was hit pretty fuckin' bad.” Mondo said through gritted teeth. He had to take himself a seat down before he was kicked out of the hospital for putting dents in the walls and giving the old woman passing by a heart attack.

“Ya’ think? He’s in critical care right now because of this! I knew we shouldn’t had gone out! He’s gonna-”

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t count him out yet, you’re acting like they're doing a damn autopsy on his ass right now!” Mondo yelled, “Have some goddamn hope man.”

Yeah, he needed hope, and a bunch of it to get out of this fuck shit stack. Souda buried his head into his hands and shook his head, he couldn't believe this was happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the supports guys, I really appreciate it~! <3  
> more will be coming soon promise! And my next chapter notes would be lengthier. XD this one is lacking a bit of detail. blargh.


	6. Well That Escalated Quickly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> people begin to recover, starting a new beginning in their life if they choose.  
> things escalate quickly.  
> dates, awkward glances, mother bears, and gyrating.

**well that escalated quickly**

 

;

 

 

Souda, very reluctantly returned home without Leon. Then again, he had no choice but to. It felt absolutely horrible, like a little part of him died inside. Even though he didn’t consider Leon his best, best friend, Leon was still a crutch in his life, a good friend who listened. And the same could be said about himself for the other. 

The apartment felt dead, unlively, abandoned, cold. Usually he walked in and would find Leon drunk off his ass or watching T.V., positioned to bug the mechanic about whatever misfortunes happened in his day. Then he’d be waken up by punk rock, screaming, or occasionally Ibuki. Though recently the latter is a complete mystery, Souda has no idea what’s up with Leon’s temperamental relationships and continues to not try and comprehend that aspect of his life. Despite it all, as annoying as Leon’s life was, and how much it intervened and crossed barriers than most roommates could live through, it was comforting. 

He’s pretty sure that the shit will drive him insane one day and regret all those thoughts. But at least he didn’t feel like a shell of a person.

Tired from the long night that had passed, the sun creeping up over the horizon, Souda tried to close his eyes and willfully convince his body to go to sleep. 

Three hours passed, still no sleep, and Souda was drowning in a bowl of cereal. White bubbles gurgled from his mouth as he slept in the world’s most comical ways ever. He was peacefully sleeping till a cheerio went up his nose, and he inhaled sharply out of unconscious reflex. Milk squirted out of his nose as he tried to breathe around the loop. He sat up with the quickness breathing profusely, shooting a snot covered cheerio across the kitchen at bullet speed.

It seriously could have put a hole in the wall at the velocity the damn thing went at.

Lunchtime came, which wasn’t important to him today. Zoning out on game shows sufficed. Then, the sun was going back down. Souda stared out the window watching the orange sunset disappear slowly. The doctors said that they would call sometime close to the evening giving him updates on Leon’s status. However, Souda never got one, predictably. Though the hospital wasn’t shotty, doctors can get sidetracked at times, the medical field is hectic and very unpredictable. With that thought in mind Souda was not willing to sit on his ass and be surprised by a heart wrenching announcement due to a group text sent by someone he barely knows. He pushed his ass off the couch and sighed going to his room to put on some fresh clothes. He had threw on, in this order; his usual beanie, a grey band-tee, a black leather jacket, a blue jeans, and black combat boots before heading off to the hospital.

-x-

 

 

When he got to the hospital, he saw a couple people loitered around. Some sitting down others pacing.

“...Souda-chan?” Before Souda actually could see who was inside the lobby, he turned around to see a mop of colored hair fly towards him. 

Ibuki had walked in not too shortly after him coincidentally, wearing an oversized purple sweater and a black leather skirt with the same different colored knee highs she wore in high school. She had surprised him for the umpteenth time in his life by jumping up and managing to glomp him without knocking him over. 

“Hey hey! We’re in a hospital!” Souda hushed in a loud tone as a few eyes cast in their direction.

Ibuki let out a loud, short laugh, “Ibuki knows, she just needs a hug~” 

“That was not a hug! You attacked me!”

“Awh, Souda-chan doesn’t like Ibuiki’s hugs anymore?”

Souda let out a soft exhale and rolled his eyes, “No, I don’t hate your hugs, I just I dunno, that wasn’t a hug? And really it’s just not the place to attack someone? Everyone here looks damn depressed...”

Ibuki had unlatched her choking arms from around Souda’s throat and looked around the room. A little concern painted on her features.

“I didn’t mean to sound so rude-”

“Ah, Souda-chan’s right…did something happen?” she completely interrupted him mid sentence and somehow knew what he was going to say.

The pink haired man shifted onto the topic quickly and gave Ibuki an incredulous look. “Wait...no one told you? Then why are ya’ here?”

“Fujisaki-chan told Ibuki that Leon was in a Critical Car! Ibuki wonders what that is?” she shrieked putting both of her hands on her cheeks.

“...” Souda face palmed himself, shaking his head. “You mean Critical Care…” he corrected.

Ibuki stared at Souda for awhile before she let out a loud, wolfish laugh, “Oh! Critical Care! Huh? Wait? Isn’t that bad?”

“Yeah, see, a guy threw a table at his head...”

“Whoa!” Ibuki cut in eyes growing wide. “Oh, that’s so hardcore! Wooo! Ibuki would love to throw tables!”

“It’s not as glamorous as it sounds Ibuki…he got knocked out by a damn table, coated in glass, alcohol and disgusting germs in some piece of shit bar. These superhuman powered assholes who I’m pretty sure escaped from prison or something, hit him on the head with a piece of furniture like a whack-a-mole machine...” he tried to illustrate what happened from what Mondo explained through lines of curses and fists of fury he demonstrated for the tale. Essentially, that’s how Souda imagined it, or deciphered from it.

Ibuki seemed to be a little confused at what Souda tried to explain even though it was clear. Her imagination probably got the best of her.“Wha-?...the table hit Leon-kun? Why didn’t he jump over it?”

Souda made a look. “Because he isn’t a gymnast?” 

“Mmm~, yes, that’s Owari-chan’s job~” Ibuki sang with a surprisingly soft giggle before seriousness crossed her features in a flash of a pan. Thereafter, she was silent for a moment and folded her arms looking intently at the people dispersed through the room as if she was listening to their hushed conversations. Souda was a little brain dead at the moment, well, more tired and sat there a bit slumped before she began speaking again.

“Ibuki understands now...why Fujisaki-san was sad.” The lack of excitement in her tone. He barely recognized her voice since it was so much calmer than most of the times he hears her. Which is usually shrieking at the top of her lungs, her peppy and way of speaking that was a little immature way of speaking for a twenty something year old woman.

“Uhh, yeah...” Souda dewily replied. All honesty, he wanted to add on ‘but everything is going to be alright’, but could he really think that? The way life was treating him lately, with some good, there was more bad piling on top of that good. He really had no idea what the outcome would be. Between the emotional breaks, the depression, the lack of sleep and the pressure, and now dealing with worrying and anxiety on different levels...Souda doesn’t even know anymore. Like, is this even real? First of all, he’s surprised that he’s still walking around and not have lost his shit completely yet. 

Life is a fucking sadist.

“Leon-kun will be a- okay, I’m positive!”

Souda looked up at Ibuki with an eyebrow raised. He got tripped up again over his words, almost like he had the touch of bad juju on anything and didn’t want to hex the guy unintentionally chirping in a ‘yeah, totally gotta have that hope like what we were preached in high school and through Komaeda even to this day’. Instead of sounding like a dick, he sufficed for stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking to the side awkwardly at the boring hospital tiles. Thankfully, the highlighter colored musician ran off towards someone else not too soon after, butting into their little conversation. It was awkward not being optimistic in this particular setting, especially when you consider the person a really, really good friend. He however, felt like his awkwardness wasn’t at any way bad, it was just how he felt, why pretend to believe when you’re not even halfway convinced?

So, with that, being alone, the pink haired man took a seat away from all the commotion and people, whipping his phone out for an imaginary text message or voice mail. 

When in actuality, he just watched time go by...despite that he had work the next morning.

-x-

 

 

Souda treated himself to an Egg McMuffin and a McCafe early in the morning. Leon’s status wasn’t as bad as it was before which was good news even though the doctors made sure to say everything with a pokerface like it was all not a big deal. Souda didn’t even know how a table could be so damn lethal and that it could actually be used as a weapon. Surely, Leon will not eat on or look at a table the same after this.

It was too early in the morning by the time Souda left the waiting room, it was cold and foggy, stuffy. The type of weather you don’t necessarily want to be anywhere but under the covers or in the warm abode of your home, which he was heading to at the moment. Souda had curled up in a ball on the couch like he had the entire night in the waiting room. No one seemed to bother him in the room except for Ibuki, Mondo and Leon’s parents. The latter must’ve gotten called by someone (possibly Mondo) because they were there wondering how the hell could this happen. They seemed a little rattled, but put together. Much opposite of their son, who would fly off the deep end in a second if things came to a head. 

“I know you’ve been taking care of him…” Mrs. Kuwata echoed to Souda, eyes baggy and tired. It being known that he was his roommate Souda wasn’t caught off guard. The mechanic let out a bitter laugh, very untimely but there was a huge misunderstanding. 

“No, I think it’s the opposite, you’re son is a really good friend...” 

Mrs. Kuwata’s jaw slackened for a second like Souda was completely bullshitting her until she looked over at her husband who nodded and kept staring at Souda. 

“I’ve been careless, I’m kind of a shitty friend.” he began to loathe himself, “A bit too caught up in my own world…” which to some degree was true. Never or barely had Souda ever went up to someone else and say, “So what have you been doing? Or how are you?” with sincerity. More formality but not out of interest. But whenever something happened to him, he was right in someones face bitching, moping or screeching.

“Just dealing with him is enough.” Mr. Kuwata laughed, “Didn’t think he’d get worse with age, but he has. Unfortunately, we can’t control him anymore…we have faith in you to keep him in check since you know him personally like a brother, you’ve survived through enough...I’m sure.”

Souda wanted to say, ‘I have my problems too. We’re both fucked.’ but they have continued the conversation like they hadn’t just dumped the responsibility of their son’s well being on his roommate. Souda sat there tight lipped, the corners of his mouth twitching every time there was a pause to rebuttal the earlier statement. He gave up after awhile and just curled up in the chair until Mr. and Mrs. Kuwata went into the room. 

Then he decided to leave.

-x-

 

 

He rolled from under a customized Green Ferrari with grease stains and sweat covering his forehead. Finally he was done. That car took forever, and the quirky European Musician that came in looked like he would eradicate Souda if he messed up on his baby. Souda understood how one can grow and raise their car like a baby and really wanted to test the beaut out and pull a full on Ferris Buller moment, mechanic edition. But his stomach began growling and whining like a garbage disposer. To his disappointment, his little adventure had to wait since lunchtime was nigh. Intensifying with hunger as he walked over to his front desk ready to close the shop down, the front door creaked and a dark shadow floated into the room. At first it scared the living shit out of Souda, his first thought was that it was a shadow person ready to torment or drag him to hell, until the figure became clear. The weariness alleviated from his chest and he plastered a wide grin.

“H-hey! Look who’s returned from the dead!”

Gundam’s eyes narrowed although there was a small smirk on his chapped lips. Over the course of Gundam’s sickness, Souda had bonded with the animal breeder. Gundam didn’t necessarily have a choice but to talk to the bugging mechanic since there was nothing else that he could do except for watch the animal channel bundled in blankets, sleep, feed the four dark gods of destruction, and eat soup.

“I cut my work hours shorter today…” Gundam sounded better, he was back to his low baritone. 

‘Ah, I miss this voice’. Wait what? God dammit Souda, get a hold of yourself he’s standing right in front of you.

Gundam had cleared his throat and mumbled something into his scarf, shoulders perked up with his hand tugging up at his scarf. Souda raised an eyebrow noticing he wasn’t finished,

“Huh? Did you say something?”

Gundam gave a fake cough (Souda knows it’s fake since he’s heard too many coughs for a lifetime) and cleared his throat again, almost like he was going to read the 10 commandments or something. “I decided to come forth and…” he paused dramatically looking directly into Souda’s magenta eyes, said eyes widened with anticipation, lingering on every word. Gundam continued, “To thank you for your contribution of time and effort towards me.” 

Souda’s face was gleaming.

His face flushed like someone had just freaking proposed to him, and his eyes were bright like big city lights. “Aha!” Souda breathlessly laughed, he didn’t even know why he was reacting like this. Perhaps it was because Gundam Tanaka came to him and thanked him? The guy who never spoke normally in High School? The guy he used to pick fights with because he was always around Sonia and acting haughty? The animal breeder that he secretly liked the whole time and had yet to acknowledge it until he was in his twenties working down the fucking street from? The guy who tormented his mind whenever he wasn’t around? 

Finally coming back from cloud 9, Souda responded in stammers, “No...uh, problem. Yeah, yeah, yeah~ no problem sorry, I’m just shocked...I guess?” 

“Why?” Gundam voiced with slight concern in his voice. 

“Well uh...just...because…we didn’t used to be uh...mutually friendly with each other?” Gundam’s boney jaw tightened at that statement, and Souda didn’t know if that was a good sign or bad. In most cases it’s bad. But it was the truth and one of the many things that crossed his mind, even though it’s years in the past. The progress shocked him, how mature he’s gotten even though his feelings just manifested into something more juvenile.

“Ah, I see.” Gundam slowly reacted, looking down to the ground, a little bit uncomfortable. Who could blame him? Just randomly bringing up the past after someone thanks you? Geez. Souda took note of that and tried to change the tone,

“No, but I should be thankin’ you, I enjoyed your company...I mean...that’s why I called ya’ so much…besides that and being worried.” Now Souda’s face was so pink, his hair and contacts matched his face. He couldn’t even believe he said that, it seemed so out of character. He should end the child’s like flirting and just move on. Back then when he was in high school whenever he came onto someone, he was very forward which either made the other laugh or awkward or both. However he was older and fully aware of what he was doing, despite his inner protests. 

“Oh.” Gundam was actually caught off guard by the compliment and seemed to not even have a legit response to that. 

“Yeah…” Souda murmured absently, half of his mind somewhere else. Battling his mind from letting him say something stupid.

“Well you needn’t worry over me, I am more than capable of taking care of myself…” 

“I know that, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t worry right?” the mechanic shrugged averting his attention to the calendar on the front desk and flipping it to the right month.

“Yes, but heed that as a warning.”

“Hah, why?” Souda asked casually propping his elbow on the counter.

“You are the one who seems to need the rescuing from the smoldering, pit less door to Hellfire.”

Souda stopped, blinked, then looked at Gundam cross eyed. “Wait, what?” Souda honestly didn’t know what that meant but he took it as a way of saying, ‘self-destruction’ or something like that. 

“Wait, Gundam...are you worried about me?”

“W-Worry? No, I do not panic over difficulties.”

“Then...?”

“Why must you be so hollow headed? It’s clear what I am conveying.”

“Yeah, concern.”

“Now you used a different term.” Gundam deadpanned crossing his arms.

Souda’s jaw fell open. Was he really getting a lesson about grammar in the middle of his break? “What the hell? It’s basically the same thing!” he exasperated.

“No, I believe not.”

“C’mon man, I thought we were going somewhere positive with this and then you do that.”

“Do what?”

“That!”

“...I don’t understand what ‘that’ is.” he furrowed his brows in plain confusion.

“Argh! Gundam! You make it so hard to ask you out when you veer off topic!” 

“...?!” Gundam inhaled sharply. 

It took a few gear turns in his head for Souda to even realize what he just said. He cursed his own existence for letting the lingering sentence finally escape his lips, as well as his own self control for failing him once more in his life. ‘Fuck.’ Souda blanched. His heart felt like it was going to pound out of his chest, his legs were quaking like jelly and his mouth was hanging open, catching flies. 

Souda tried to stammer out an okay excuse but, he knew one wasn’t going to come up. “Oops, oh shit, wait, that was supposed to uh...wait, let me explain myself.” he said it despite that he actually didn’t have an excuse otherwise than typical word vomit.

“...what?” the animal breeder voiced, features tight.

“Just don’t ask! I don’t want to explain myself! It just came out!”

“...what?” he repeated.

“Oh man, are you broken or something? Gundam can you talk please?” Despite the contradiction in what he said, Souda was being serious. He didn’t want to explain, he just needed an answer from Gundam. Not just ‘what?’ and then a foreshadowing silence.

“Apologies, nevertheless I don’t…” he stopped himself and looked like he was mulling over his choice of words.

Then it settled into Souda’s brain. He was going to get rejected. It was too late for him to say something like ‘oh I mean just to hang out’, and really he didn’t even want to say that anyways. It just was all messed up because this whole time he developed feelings for someone who wouldn’t return the same? It’s like High School all over again, only worse because he’s getting older and is getting rejected more and more till his self confidence gets ran over by a truck.

“Ugh, just tell me that you don’t like feel the same and jus---”

“Silence.”

“Huh?”

“You keep dithering from the main quest.”

“Tch! One to talk! I’m the one putting myself out here!” Souda protested not quite sure how he could understand what Gundam had just said.

“I’ve never had someone supplicate for a romantic relationship in the manner of which you choose.” 

Souda’s cheeks burned, “H-hey what do you mean? You’re making me sound desperate or something!”

“Heh, you are quite courageous. I praise your admirable endeavor.”

“Okay, can you stop with dragging out your answer. Is it yes or no?”

Gundam blinked dumbly at Souda, heterochromic eyes wide. “To what?”

“To me, to what I just asked!”

“Oh? I accept then.”

“Ugh, I knew it! Wait, what?”

“Yes.”

Souda let it sink in for a minute. He wasn't sure what to do, and his brain sort of just stopped functioning for a minute. Similar to being on auto pilot, he leaned forward on the counter putting his face in his hands. “...pinch me, I think I’m dreaming.” he shakily breathed out. That went waaaaaay too quickly than Souda thought it could ever go.

To his surprise, Gundam leaned over the counter and pinched him on his forearm

“GAH! Not for real man!”

 

-x-

 

 

The week was going waaay better than Souda could ever think. No nightmares or anything, though he did have trouble sleeping some nights. Despite it all, after the good news, he didn’t intend on telling anyone about what happened that day, since gossip spreads like wildfire. 

On top of his success with Gundam, though half of it’s true meaning was slightly unclear, there was more.

Souda was relieved after hearing that Leon had recovered from his concussion and that he would return home in the evening. He didn’t expect the man to just fall off the face of the planet like that, even though he’s a party rocker who’s lived one hell of a life within less than a quarter of a century. Souda would at least expect it to be like normal rockstars, overdosing or joining the twenty-seven club.

To his surprise, Leon’s parents weren’t the ones to drop him off, it was Kiyotaka Ishimaru. Souda totally did not expect the man to do that, but when he thought hard about it, it made perfect sense because he was SHSL Hardass---oops, uh, Prefect. Despite that though, there was always something mother goosey about him opting out the millions of times he yelled to his classmates about misconduct and whatever. 

“Guess who’s homme~?” Leon sung out tiredly, showing up at the front door, pushing his weight on Ishimaru.

The latter looked sternly at Souda and gave him a nod, “Good Evening Kazuichi! How are you on this autumn night?”

‘Kazuichi? Wow, he just used my name like that?’ Souda was taken aback at how casually Ishimaru said his name. The one called to nodded back with a smile on his face. “Hey, and uh I’m fine. Thanks for going out of your way to bring him here,” Souda walked over to the door to shut it behind them. 

“Of course! I wouldn’t leave a friend in dire of assistance! Besides I don’t trust anyone else to do this duty!”

“Okay man, whatchu tryin’ to say?” Souda joked cocking a thin eyebrow up.

Leon let out a chuckle as he slid himself over to the couch to sit down.” Are you saying I have bad company?”

“No, just careless!”

Souda couldn’t help but chuckle because Ishimaru was right to some degree. They only cared once the trouble commenced half the time.

“Anyways, on a brighter note, later this week I’m going to throw a recovery party, I’m inviting all our classmates since they really supported me!”

“So soon?” Ishimaru asked sitting on a stool set at the bar that Leon installed after they moved in. 

“Ya mean, too late? I’m puttin’ it off bro! Really the party should be happenin’ right now.” Leon shouted stretching on the couch. “Shit man, we need to relax, right Sou?”

“I don’t know if you want to throw a party, it causes more stress than relaxation. You may have not been to that other party that Nagito and Hajime threw, but they freaking trashed their place.” Souda answered remembering the mess it caused in two senses.

Leon scoffed exaggerating the rolling of his blue eyes, “Oh whatever, I don’t care about that man. A party is a party, I’m glad to be alive and all I want is to have a good time.”

-x-

 

 

“Okay, and I can’t eat meat in front of him, he’ll flip shits.” Souda recited to himself quietly, twiddling his thumbs. He had made extra sure to cut his lunch time out earlier in the day before he got really tired and the shots of coffee would wear off.

Today was the first lunch with Gundam that didn’t consist of standing awkwardly in a pet shop. It was a legit lunch. Souda still felt a little awkward saying in his head ‘so is this a date orrr?’. He would much rather prefer it to be at nighttime over a candlelit dinner by the beach. No too corny. ‘But that would be nice though’, he shamefully admits mentally. He didn’t choose the greasy burger joint down the street or the place where they made their first encounter in months. He chose a Italian restaurant with a comfortable, shaded patio and serves vegetarian food (he felt so thoughtful when he landed this restaurant). It wasn’t too far from where they worked, but not a couple businesses down like the Burger joint Souda frequents.

Souda felt absolutely crazy waiting for so long. Large black aviators sunglasses over his eyes because damn after that story about Leon getting hit with a table, people who were Hope’s Peak enthusiasts had stopped him and questioned him about his life, recognizing him immediately. People were beginning to stare at him too, muttering. He couldn’t go anywhere without being talked about. Thanks a lot Leon. One guy walked by and asked that his hair looked delicious and he wanted to eat it like cotton candy. Souda laughed it off nervously staring at the umbrella above his head, not to sure if that guy was flirting or was drunk midday causing him to flirt.

Then, very timely, Gundam had finally showed up, plopping not too elegantly in the chair across from him. 

“Hey, thank god you’re here~” Souda sang.

“You look uncomfortable.” Gundam had his scarf on even in this semi-warm weather. Damn, is he never going to take that off even after years of possibly having hamster feces stuffed in there?

“...You know, people just keep staring at me.” Souda shrugged though inwardly he felt like there was a spotlight on him.

Gundam made a noise that sounded like a grunt then turned in his chair to look at everyone around them with the quickness. Judging by his posture, it was clear to those around what Souda said and what Gundam intended to do without even hearing the conversation. A few people’s gazes dropped pretending to gaze around or look at the street pass them. While Gundam very bluntly stared at everyone.

Souda didn’t want to misread anything, but was that Gundam’s way of showing protection?

Gundam turned back to Souda and flashed a quick, bijou smile before looking down at the restaurant menu. Damn, whenever he needed to intimidate someone, he’d just call Gundam up, he didn’t know the guy had it in him.

Souda also turned his attention to the menu and looked down. 

Yeah, he looked and sure as hell didn’t read. Fuck, what is this gibberish? It’s all in Italian? Damn, where’s the Japanese translations? All he sees is an Italian dish name, a picture and a price.

“Uhh...do ya’ know what this says?” Souda spoke up scratching his cheek. “I can’t understand a thing.”

Gundam stared at the menu intensely for a little while, then he blinked. Shook his head and put the menu down dramatically. “Not a clue. Looks like a line of foreign curses...”

Despite Gundam’s off kilter humor that probably wasn’t even an intentional joke, Souda started chuckling. Causing the other to close his eyes in contentment. 

“I’ll ask an employee then.”  
Like said, they called a waitress over, who diligently went through every plate on the menu in detail (with great patience earning her a large tip). The two guys ordered their food, got it hot or fresh, found it to be delicious and ate it fast, not because of time because it was freaking amazing. The details of their date was very concrete. Not much you can put between chowing down but idle chit chat and a few awkward glances. Good overall. Souda was more than happy with the outcome. 

Wait, was this ‘thing’ just called a ‘date’? 

“Arrggghhh, I hadn’t eaten like that in forever!” Souda stretched with monster like sounds, getting up from his seat.

Gundam got up not too long after, already had paid for the food. Souda hadn’t realized that the man didn’t have his jacket on until he saw the tight black long sleeve shirt clinging to Gundam’s defined torso perfectly. Either that’s an optical illusion or Gundam is actually quite fit under that. ‘Wait, no stop man.’ Souda scolded himself as he averted his eye even though they were behind dark sunglasses. He had to exaggerate his head movement. Not only did that get him flustered but also a bit self consciousness. Like, the hell man? He’s the mechanic, why does he look like a string bean compared to a guy who pets animals all day?

Thankfully, Gundam put on his jacket, it wasn’t the usual long industrial goth looking coat, but a black peacoat. He made sure to put it on all coolly too. Souda folded his arms and pouted thinking to himself ‘Show off’ as the man swung the article around his shoulders and slipping his arms through like one of those guys in fashion commercials. 

Cue the sexy saxophone music.

Like nothing happened, Gundam fixed his collar and scarf clearing his throat, “Let us go then, shall we?”

Temperamentally, Souda nodded stiffly and then stuffed his hands in his jeans walking alongside Gundam, his bottom lip sort of poking out.

His anger wasn’t real though. He actually was smiling the whole time internally.

-x-

 

 

So the party happened as promised later on that week, and Souda couldn’t had been more claustrophobic in his life. Packing thirty plus students again in a tight space a.k.a someones apartment is just something that Souda never wants to experience ever again in his life. The neighbors are probably pissed the hell off because everyone and everything is to the maximum volume.

Currently, Souda was making sure no one was in his room frickle fracking on his bed before he went out into the hallway to find Hagakure to discuss the meanings of his nightmares. In this setting, he’d doubt he’d get a 100% sober response, but anything was better than nothing. Instead of finding him quicker than he expected, he had bumped into a shirtless and really drunk Nidai yelling about taking a shit. Souda shook his head and muttered something about things never changing, before he veered off into the kitchen where it was a tad bit more quieter, hoping to find the fortune teller there. 

“Ugh, I don’t even know why I’m here.” 

“Me neither.”

“C’mon guys, you know why? You’re happy Leon has recovered!”

“This is absolutely ridiculous, me being here for that?”

Souda looked over his shoulder and saw a group of four people. One of them Kyoko Kirigiri, the daughter to his old headmaster also a famous detective, the other was Celestia Ludenberg a gothic lolita who is a rather notorious gambler who has many hits out on her (Souda is really scared of her), Byakuya Togami, enough said, and Makoto Naegi the only optimist and real person in the group that doesn’t smother Souda with glares and pride.

He pretended like he didn’t hear them and wanted to get out unnoticed, but when he accidentally kicked a empty beer bottle across the floor and it hit Celestia’s heel. The woman’s eyes flamed up like a furnace and she looked over at Souda like she was going to kill him.

“Oh shit, so sorry.” he mumbled stumbling back out the kitchen.

She turned to charge him and pointed a metallic covered finger up in the air. “You--”

“Thank you for opening your home for us!” Naegi cut in so perfectly, Souda was absolutely stunned for a second before he nodded his head and thanked whatever deity is up there that this angel saved him from a execution. Celestia cut her eyes at Naegi then looked forward at Souda with a menacing glare.

“Yeah, no problem, it was all Leon’s idea though…” he managed to croak out even with holes burning through his head.

“What’s the difference? You still condoned this.”

“Huh? Excuse me?” Souda jerked his neck back, offended. ‘Difference? Condone? If you’re so damn bitchy why’d you come here?’ he thought about to say it out loud, until...

“Don’t be rude.” Kirigiri monotoned cutting her eyes at Byakuya like he had just ruined evidence for a murder case. “Thank you as well, I could only imagine having to deal with the aftermath of this when you had no say in the deal beforehand.” she looked at Souda with a deadpan, even though her words were meant to be said with a smile of some sort.

It actually surprised Souda. She understood him. “Ah, yeah it’s uh, just something to deal with. I don’t mind, just a bit annoyed at the timing.” he made the mistake of looking over at Celestia who was glaring daggers. She’s right by the kitchen knives too, so he should really leave. Also Togami was there. A client of his and who also is Hinata’s boss. He’s heard horror stories of that guy and what he does to certain people. He doesn’t intend to stay around for long because of this guy either.

Togami looked over at Souda once, then a spot behind him before walking out of the kitchen out into the hallway. Celestia soon followed afterwards, her nose high in the air and she made sure to give Souda a creepy smile. Which evidently left three people in the kitchen, with a very awkward silence.

“Sorry about that, wherever they go, they’re so uptight.” Naegi apologized, eyebrows furrowed.

Souda shrugged it off, “That’s how they want to live I guess, glad you guys came though, I’m pretty sure Leon would be bummed, he talks favorably of you two.”

Kirigiri and Naegi both blushed and looked at each other.

“Wait, not like that. Wait.” Souda awkwardly tried to explain himself but found himself laughing to alleviate the sudden tension.

Naegi was the first to speak. “Ah, no, fine, totally, uhhh, I think I’m going to get some air though, there’s a bit too many warm bodies in here. Nice talking to you Souda,” he rushed.

“You can call me Kazuichi.”

“Oh? Okay, Kazuichi. Hah, that name fits you for some odd reason.”

“Huh?” Neagi was gone though and Kirigiri was following suit actually patting Souda on the shoulder as she exited the kitchen. 

Souda had no idea what the hell to think of that confrontation but what the flying fuck. Did he say something bad? It was probably nothing though, something he didn’t understand that they did. He seemed to have that effect and outcome with a lot of people around him. Probably because he can’t read between the lines or something.

As he thought to himself in his own corner of his mind (well kitchen), Souda hadn’t realized that he was drinking suddenly. When the heck did he pick this up and pop open the cap? God he really needed to stop zoning out and breaking his stupor with a bottle to his lips. No, it doesn’t happen exactly like that often but Souda does zone out a lot. After finishing and leaving a little corner of that drink and lazily letting it roll across the counter, happily less tense than before. He headed out towards the crowd only to find himself being shoved towards the middle. 

It happened so fast it felt like he was in a tornado.

Fast, pace, metal was blasting throughout the apartment, and probably the whole complex too. Along with the music, you had a some rocker strip show or whatever. A shirtless Leon stood on a table and was headbanging his head hard. So hard, Souda imagined his head was just going to fly right off his neck, making him return to the hospital. The others weren’t doing too bad either, of course Ibuki was right there with him crowd surfing like it was a damn concert. Then he comically scouted out Tsumiki and Nanami headbanging like pros in the corner, hair tangling together. Also he could’ve sworn he saw Saionji going crazy and trying to get Koizumi to join in the cesspool of craziness as well (she was like ‘no I don’t want to cause brain damage’). Pretty much, he saw all his classmates colorful hair moving to the music, even those with no rhythm. He was surprised how loose these kids were at Hope’s Peak. Fuck man, they really went out. Pretty much everyone but him were giving themselves whiplash and it quickly began to look like a mosh pit. 

A very loud “Yeah mother fucker yeah!” managed to be heard over the music, which came from Junko who made sure to jump in the crowd ferociously in of course, a short skirt. He’s pretty sure some people got a good look underneath. Not him though.

There was a moment of silence and laughing for a minute until a groovy beat bumped through the sound system. Before he knew it the song changed into a whole nother genre and the dancing just went from headbanging to suggestive caressing.

The tone in the room flipped 180. Borderline death metal now funk? The fuck? Who mixed this tape?

Loud whoops echoed throughout the room when the intro to the American song hit. Once the beat dropped, everyone with the quickness began to find themselves a group or partner and just go bananas like bonobo’s. Like, almost everyone's libido was the same level as Hanamura's tonight. Souda was dumbstruck, he couldn’t help but just stand in place and blush as well as a few others who were probably not drunk enough or hyped to get in on the dancing. He watched a lonely body one by one get well acquainted with the curves of another. Shit, if these people want to go so badly, they gotta find a hotel or something, not in his living room! 

‘I should leave, or go in my room...this is realllly awkward.’ he thought until...

He felt someone grab his shoulder and rub their hand across. Souda cursed in his head. ‘God dammit! One of them got me!’

“Come on~” the voice sang in his ear. Souda had no idea who said that because there were so many people around him. However, he indeed felt a hand on his waist and he immediately thought ‘Oh jesus who is THIS?! WHY AREN’T I MOVING!’ alarmingly.

“Uh.” Souda commented dumbly even though he knew he wasn't heard at all. He didn’t want to move with the music, he wanted to get the hell out of there but something was keeping him there.

This person was not relenting or Souda was just stupid. Either or, they made sure to get firm and put Souda’s whole rib cage in a lock like he was a teddy bear. Well, Souda shouldn’t be compared to a teddy bear unless you grind into the ass of your teddy bear. 

Souda’s face was so red it was violet. And he looked like a hot mess, heavily breathing and sweating, trying not to just cream his pants right there. There was no possible way someone could legally get away with being so good at ‘grinding’. This wasn’t the bedroom, this was a public space, the dance floor, or his living room space turned into one. 

It went on for what felt like a eternity until the he heard the music flow into another funky song. Dear god, Souda isn't sure if he can endure anymore. As the new song played, very slowly, he felt himself getting guided towards the edge of the crowd. That’s when Souda began to panic more. Not only was this person forceful, but they were strong, it was like he was a feather being carried away by a strong gust of wind.

“Oh my god wh-?” Souda couldn’t even hear himself, he knew he sounded breathless since his throat felt like it closed up from this blanched frustration. All he could do was shout in his brain ‘who is doing this’? and ‘why am I moving along!’. He hoped it to be a mistake. Something similar to whoever this is, thought he was someone else with hot pink hair within their school (highly doubt it but it was wishful thinking). 

“Okay, that was good dancing, I think I need to go to the bathroo--” Craning his neck to the side making probably his first movement with this person. He finally caught a glimpse of who was doing this because of the lesser amount of bodies. Souda’s mouth made a long ‘o’ shape, and his eyes bugged out, face completely red after all that dancing well, less on his terms.

Souda shouted in his brain, which finally turned into mush after steam and sparks flew out his ears. “G-G-G-G-G-....” Souda couldn’t even form his sentence as he turned around fast to face him with his hands outstretched. He really did not expect HIM to move like that so well. Cross out the ‘Animal’ in SHSL Animal Breeder and leave breeder. Souda’s pretty sure if it was possible he would’ve gotten pregnant from that dancing. Would he had liked it if it was someone else? Hell no, he's just shocked as hell. 

“What? My gyrating leaves you speechless?” Gundam asked with a chuckle, heavily breathing like he just ran a marathon. With the moves he was pulling, I guess it was similar to that.

Gyrating though.

Gundam probably drank too much or has a low tolerance, because that was semi out of character, Souda’s damn sure of it. What do they say? “There’s truth in wine,” (alcohol in his case) so he’s pretty sure that Gundam was acting out how he felt thanks to the liquid courage!

Whoa, if he could dance like that.

Souda made a creepy chuckle that Gundam didn't hear over his deep exhales. A wicked grin spread internally across Souda’s face whereas externally he made sure to look distressed. He plotted something that quick. He was back to being his creepy, perverted self. Reminiscent of the days where he pursued Sonia. "Ah," he gulped and put a hand to his forehead, eyebrows forming a dark line, jaw quivering. “I’m sorry, I think I’m going to faint.” he made a small whine at the back of his throat, stumbling to his bedroom already. “Oh, I’m so sick.” he whined again running his hand along the wall.

A firm hand grabbed Souda’s arm. The latter turned around, an eyebrow raised up. “You should get...some fresh air.” Gundam spoke quietly ushering Souda towards the balcony. Well, that was not expected, yet it was if that made any sense.

Souda couldn’t help but make a face as he was being whisked away. “B-but I need to lay down! You do too, you don't look well!”

“...”

“My bedroom is the other wa-...ugh, fine, I guess you’re better at this than me. But I feel weak.” No game. 

Gundam: 1+  
Souda: 0

So far anyways…

When the two got outside, Souda leaned against the taller like he was some sort of crutch or body cushion. All together, tired of standing at this party he slid down the wall to sit on the ground, letting out a sigh of relief. Gundam remained standing, looking at the brightly lit city scape in front of them.  
After a few minutes of silence, Souda got back up and patted the dirt off his butt. 

“Okay, I’m going to lay down now.” Souda obviously hitted around too, eyes desperate like a forgotten mistress.

Gundam hadn’t moved, he stood completely still.

“Oi, I’m laying down in my room okay?” he tried one last time. 

“Staring out on the large cast of dancing lights and screaming dreams of strangers.”

“Uhhhhh...does that mean you’re staying out here?”

“Yes.” Gundam struggled down a gag, he was feeling sick but wouldn't let that show. 

“Oh, okay then, well...see you later? Don’t be shy to stop by.” Wow, he sounded really hard up. He didn’t even turn around to address that, Gundam just stayed out there staring, hoping that he would get peace and clear his head. Wow, he hadn’t realized elixirs had such a strong effect on him. He was beginning to sway in his stance.

Souda started off to his room, to go lay down or just sleep away his apprehension. Better yet, have Gundam burst into his room as loud R&B blasts from the stereo commencing their hot, steamy, drunk sex. However, two people prevented that, that were on his bed. No, actually not his bed, this was in Leon’s bedroom at the time he thought he it was his room.

The door creaked open and Souda wished he had heard the gasps and moans but thanks to the pumping music he couldn’t hear that. And it didn’t take him till he took five full steps inside to realize what was there awaiting him half naked. 

“GAAAAAAAHHHH! WHAT THE FUCK?” Souda screamed almost too afraid to even move.

A bundle of dreadlocks tussling with blonde hair in a mess. 

Was that Sonia and Hagakure? 

Even though Souda screamed one of his lungs out, the two didn’t stop at what they were doing anyways. Damn, he wanted to find Hagakure but not like this. A small voiced, “Holy shit” echoed throughout the room before Souda bursted back out that room like his ass was on fire and went down the hall to his bedroom. Which was locked. "Hey! Open up!" No one opened the door of course. Damn. 

Souda cursed. What smart ass would do that to him? He didn’t like walking in on anybody but he’d at least want to shoo someone out of his room instead of being locked out. Now, with that update, he had no where to sleep, or rest or whatever. He was forced to go back outside.

Shamefully, Souda walked back outside, looking more of a mess than before. With a firm grip on the sliding door, Souda walked up on Gundam, who was still out on the balcony but not staring out at the skyline anymore. There were more people. The new company, a very drunk Komaeda who was clinging onto Nanami like hope, rambling about whatever to an understanding Naegi who kept nodding and saying ‘Yeah, you’ve got that right’ over and over. Hinata was sulking in the corner like a recently neutered dog sipping on something orange (probably orange juice) and then Leon had somehow meandered outside, having Junko hanging off of him like a key chain. 

Man, Leon seriously needs to stop being a man whore. Ibuki and Sayaka are both in the other room!

“Uhhh…” Souda had entered into the conversation right at the butt end of a dirty joke told by Leon. Everyone immediately busted out into laughter (except Hinata and Souda, the latter being confused).

Seeing the others occupied by whatever, Souda walked over to Hinata before he did something else, and raised an eyebrow approaching the brunette.

“Hey, haven’t seen you the whole time I was here.” Man, Hinata sounded bitter as fuck, he needs a drink a real drink, not that OJ. 

“Probably because there’s a lot of people here.” Souda mumbled grabbing at his coarse pink hair.

“Yeah, I guess…” Hinata shrugged folding his arms. 

“What’s up with you?” Souda asked, “You’re making that scary face.”

“Nothing, I’m just thinking…” Hinata probably has more going through his head than what he was saying which is typical of him. He is very passive aggressive. 

“This party not cutting it?”

“The timing is bad. I didn’t know my fucking boss would be here.”

“Oh, sorry, you know, Leon’s old classmate, he sort of group text on a whim.” Souda explained, “I think he left though. I had my confrontation with him earlier...”

“...no, he’s still mongering about, I saw him on my way to the bathroom. He made sure to say ‘you better be up for work tomorrow.’ We don’t even have work on Saturdays, so what the fuck does he mean by that?”

“He’s just trying to mess with you.”

“He’s such a prick.” Hinata guzzled the last of his OJ. “I don’t even think he washed his hands when he walked out.”

Souda grimaced at the last detail, the hell? Anyways, “Oi, don’t let him get to you man, you’re at a party. I know it’s not the best party but…” Souda tried to reason but ran out of ways to encourage the guy. Of course Souda was talking positively, he just experienced the best dancing in his life. But he wanted to get more action...(if ya know what I mean).

“I tried to but look, I'm in the fucking corner...” Yep, Hinata was pretty hopeless huh?

“No, you say ‘I’m trying’ not ‘I tried.’ And get out the corner man. You put on that dress shirt just to not flash it.”

“Dude, you’re not my life coach.” Hinata cracked a small smile faint on his lips. “Get the fuck out.” he said stepping out from his emo corner, stepping to Souda’s side, giving him a slight nudge. "And finally someone noticed my shirt."

"Really? I was jokin'!" Souda started to laugh turning towards the group of people but it died in his throat.

The fuck was going on over there?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The baby is out. *spitting noises*
> 
> Souda and Gundam...hm, they finally made it huh? Or is it still in a grey area? Unknown? I really don't like writing dates, because it comes off very corny? Even though most of the stuff I write is full of corn mcmuffins, I can't help but writhe internally as I write those scenes. 
> 
> Souda gets hot under the collar, which I wrote laughing because I was making him sound like such a fan girl. But I mean, technically he is? Idk man. He gets giggly and perverted it's creepy but endearing.
> 
> Anyways, yes, this did move faster than the others, I think? Everything sort of happens quickly like I fast forwarded because I don't intend on making this too long. I mean, I love writing this story, I don't want it to end but there are some things that I want to incorporate. I have to establish some things first before I go in, or else this fanfic will end up being 50+ chapters and then I'll get lost in a bunch of words. xD
> 
> What is up with Hinata, why is he so pissy when he has Komaeda's baby face ass there? Uhhh...(that'll be explained some other time this is a Soudam story bruh, SOUDAMN) lol couldn't help that.
> 
> Why is Leon so loose? Idk, I always see Leon as a slut. I feel like if he stuck around at the school more, he would've been killed for being such a slut by Touko or Ishimaru. 
> 
> Names. Yeah, I know in Japan they address last names out of respect sometimes, but some of these characters like 'Ibuki', 'Gundam' and 'Leon' are called by the first yet there's 'Komaeda' who's sometimes addressed as 'Nagito'. I just go with the name that stands out, y know? Also, I can't stand calling Gundam 'Tanaka'. Just too ordinary y'know? I know there are grammar Nazi's lurking out there, but a story has to be fun. Even though I know the rules, I can always bend them. ;3 (or it's laziness xD)
> 
> But MAN, this chapter is loooonnnngg though. This took awhile for me to process but it got out. I also started college recently so I've been trying to keep up with that and balance my writing time. There's too much going on but to be honest I like there to be stories within stories, y'know? I'm thinking of adding this to a series and doing a Hinata or Leon POV in parallel to Souda's, showing and revealing their problems. 
> 
> So stay tuned for that. In the mean time, thanks for the kudos and comments and holy crap, look at them hits, over 500. .///. I'm blushing because gah, too much feels.
> 
> Also the song I was listening to was 'Tuxedo - Do It' and then I thought, oh that's good gyrating music.


	7. Torn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parties and Hope’s Peak students don’t mix like vodka and tequila.  
> sounds cool but it is a dumb ass decision for multiple reasons.

**Torn**

**;**

 

Souda had heard loud gasps and ‘oh my gods’ echo across the balcony before a loud ‘thwack’ silenced the area temporarily. From that point on, it was a bunch of commotion auditory and visually. Voices melting together, statures twisting or stagnant, forming a mystery of nonsense. There were typical noises you’d hear at a party full of twenty something year olds, spilling from inside the apartment. However, something was significantly different about this silence. Almost like the feeling of his was entirely different, the atmosphere shifted dramatically for him for the worst. 

From his position, he couldn't see what exactly was going on. That was until, he saw a figure lower to one knee and bend their elbows. As soon as Souda saw that, he ran over for a reason, that sickening feeling he had gotten when he initially heard the noise. Hinata followed closely behind actually muttering something along the lines of ‘this is not good’. Both of their eyebrows were furrowed to the point where it looked like they had unibrows. 

It didn't take too long for Souda to break the silence on the balcony. “H-hey, what happened guys?” he asked shakily finding a break in the tightly packed circle. Aimlessly he walked towards the middle, unaware of what position he put himself into. He felt an intense glare sent his way, like the heat from a spotlight. It was from his roommate. Leon’s head was tilted at a slight angle, his face was beginning to turn red, neck craned high and blue veins popped out of said neck and forehead. He was brimming with anger. Why exactly? Then Souda looked down at the person on the ground, he had hoped it wasn’t who he thought it was but it was. But of course, the universe hates him and it was who he hoped it wasn’t. Gundam was kneeling on the ground and kept his face concealed except his non-existent eyebrows (the muscle) that were at a dangerous slant. It was a rare sight to see the man show an open display of anger. 

Souda couldn’t help but ask over and over to the crowd, ‘what happened?’. No one responded. It was like everyone had lost the ability to speak. Or was that his brain just swarming from the confusion and frustration of the situation? Maybe he was experiencing onephrenia. The dreamstate phenomenon where you aren’t sure whats reality or not anymore. What if this all was a big, extended, detailed, realistic dream his head composed and he had yet to wake up?

No couldn’t possibly. Things were a bit too surreal. 

Giving up on getting an answer from his peers, Souda’s eyes trailed down to the ground. There was a small puddle of blood. ‘Fuck, what did Leon do to him?’ Souda thought becoming sick. For a second his brain made up that there was a axe there and he was bleeding to death, but in reality he was just punched. 

Yet, no one had spoken, they all remained silent and unmoving, until Gundam unveiled his face, standing up tall, showing the blood gushing out his nose. Souda’s eyes widened realizing his assumption was correct. In his head things were a bit exaggerated so Gundam’s face was also bruised up, cut, pale etc.

“Shit, Gundam are you--?” he started reaching out to his face reflexively.

However, when he did that, he did not expect for Gundam to just cut him off by sliding by him giving a lingering stare and landing a blow in Leon’s stomach. From that point on, Souda woke up from his half dream state and for saw the new struggle he’d have to deal with. No, this was real and yes, two people he cared about a lot were fighting.

Souda leaped back in shock as everyone else did, not expecting him to actually attack. And for Souda, half of him still not believing this was real.

“OOOOOOHHH!” Junko immediately got hyped, leaping up on a unsuspecting Naegi’s back. Naegi let out a high pitched yelp trying to swing the model off. “Fight loverboys!” she sang jovantly, like she didn’t just encourage two guys to beat each other up.

“Hey, why the hell are you cheering them on?” Hinata protested eying the model’s unfitting expression.

Souda looked at the model for a quick second until he realized that fists were beginning to fly in the air and a heated fight was heading in his direction. He was quite dumbfounded by all of this. First of all, what the hell possessed Gundam to fight Leon? More importantly, what caused this fight anyways? No one wanted to jump in and stop the two (Well Junko didn’t for different reasons) but as time went on, the crowd on the balcony grew bigger. However, those who were out, simply stood back and watched the two brawl, including a cowering Souda. After the two men got bloodied up pretty well in a short amount of time, it was finally intervened by a strong physical force. 

“Hey! You twwooooo! Break iiiiit upppp!” Nekomaru shouted somehow finding his way on the balcony bombarding his chiseled, shirtless glory through the growing crowd. “This bloodlussssttttt!” the coach shouted again waking up half of the neighborhood. He had went to grab for Leon, putting him in a little corner like a badly behaved child. Leon continued to spit and curse at Gundam. Gundam, the one getting cursed at who had stopped fighting once Mondo had gotten Leon to chill a bit. He wasn’t as thrashing as Leon, who still kept trying to come at Gundam from across the balcony. 

That was it. The party was officially over. And Saionji made sure to say that over the somewhat fitting electronic music. But everyone didn’t know if that was true...yet. That is until Ishimaru came outside yelling at the top of his lungs about this ‘childlike behavior’, waking up half the damn apartment building and into Sayaka’s ear. She glared at him like she was telling him to shut the hell up, however quickly Koizumi joined in too, which just created a whole new fuss. Junko started yelling back at them for being ‘losers’ and then others joined in. Colorful language exchanged between both groups. However, during that debate. A new problem occurred, like getting an infection on top of a flu. All of the chicks Leon were three timing had been on the balcony at the same time, and they all defended Leon for his actions, said something a little too personal, which peaked suspicion. Sayaka already knew about the others, but the others didn’t know. Ibuki being the most ignorant out them all. Little did they even know it was more than just three girls involved. Leon had formed a love octagon fulfilling his life as a rockstar. 

For the sake of less confusion and trying to not make Leon sound like such a slut. Between the three there was a still silence, it was very still. It took Souda a while to realize that ‘oh shit, here comes the other part of the storm.’ And just like that, Sayaka started cursing out Ibuki, Ibuki wasn’t going to fight with Sayaka and made sure to emphasize that as the girl charged her. “This isn’t the time for this.” she said courageously and left to check on Leon. Then there was Junko who took Ibuki’s spot, and for some odd reason Byakuya was still at the party and giving very dirty glares at the three girls the entire time. Then Junko and Sayaka started fighting bringing up shit from high school. To say the least, it was a huge clusterfuck now.

In the meantime, Hinata ignored that crap and walked up to Gundam, asking if he was alright. Watching the man bleeding profusely out his nose. In response, the man took off his jacket, dusted (or more like smeared) some blood off and gave a short response. Then he turned on his heel, heading back into the apartment as if he didn’t just throw punches at the parties host and he wasn’t bleeding and bruising on his face and internally.

Souda felt sick watching everything. This was bad. He didn’t want any of this to happen, he didn’t know how it occurred but all he knew was that something triggered Leon. He doesn’t just punch people in the face and then blame it on the alcohol. Sure, he can, yes anyone can. But this party, this setting wasn’t set up for him to get in a fight. He didn’t go out searching for one, did he?

…

And everyone else. The energy around is poisonous, everyone is getting riled up. Mukuro started getting into a mouthful spat with her own sister saying this wasn’t necessary. Junko flipped on her and when scolded harshly, actually started crying. For some odd reason Mondo went to check on Leon, but then Leon started cursing at Mondo which ensued a verbal fight. Sakura ran over trying to calm the two down. Then like a hole in the head, Ishimaru ran over and intervened forcefully pissing almost everyone with no discernment. It just got bad. Just a bad mixture all together. People should stop trying to throw parties with all the students. It’s obvious they can’t be in the same room anymore. They never did in high school, why the hell would it work now? 

Just as Souda took a deep breath, there was another fight. Leon and Mondo started fighting. It’s just sickening to see all this hate manifested in one area. Trying to just calm himself down, the best thing Souda could do was escape everything and everyone around him the best way he could. He left the balcony quickly, ignoring every soul around him and the yelling. He ran inside going straight to his bedroom for at least some solitude. He tried to turn the knob, then twice, and found out after the third time that the door was locked. Fantastic. It better not be Hagakure and Sonia in his room. That means the two been hopping from room to room. 

This night was horrible. It’s confirmed. Not only did he just see his roommate and his potential boyfriend fighting. Then there was a gruesome fight between his roommates ‘concubines’ to say the least, then Mondo and Leon are fighting and he’s pretty sure other people are getting in fights themselves. 

And here Souda is, in the muck of all this trying to not lose his shit. Can’t even find solitude in his own home because of these people. 

“Hey...Souda, I’m leaving now...so...” Hinata walked up to the mechanic casually, though it was obvious he was taking caution. He trailed off looking to the side like he totally did not want to allude to the fact that this party sucked. But everyone knew it at this point.

“Yeah…” was all he felt like saying. 

He awkwardly replied to the bleak response. “Uh, I know something is wrong...” Hinata stopped and looked up for a second then continued, finding a different path for the conversation. “Wait, is your door locked?” Hinata guessed.

“...Yeah…”

Did he press the wrong button? Hinata winced. “Damn, who’s in there then?”

“I don’t know...but…” Souda turned towards the door and glared up at it. “I’m too tired to even care. I just want to leave.”

Truth be told, Hinata thought that Souda would punch the door and curse but his reaction was the opposite. In one way he was glad, in another he was concerned that he just defeatedly replied. “Well I’m about to go, if you want to crash at my place then you can.” Hinata thumbed at the front door when suddenly he heard wailing. 

Souda looked up like ‘now what is it?. He looked over his shoulder expecting to just see some more bullshit. 

What actually was going on was that Tsumiki began sobbing grossly over Gundam’s wounds in the kitchen. Probably the most unsanitary place to address someones bleeding wounds. It never took the girl too much for her to go into a sad fit. Souda peaked around the corner and put his hands on his hips watching the scene with a tough glare. It actually got on his nerves.

“W-what happened to yoouuu!?” she cried. Gundam grunted when she drunkenly accessed his wounds, dousing his face in alcohol. 

Hinata shook his head standing next to Souda, “This is a mess.”

“Tell me about it, everyone wants to drink but then they can’t hold their fuckin’ liquor and guess what? This shit happens. Fights and fuckin’, I literally can’t piss because people are literally in the bathroom fuckin’. Disgusting.” Kuzuryuu was the other person in room. He was sane, and most likely sober but angry as usual. His eyebrows were almost at a 90 degree angle and the bling on his hand was blinding, Souda had to wince he was about to go blind staring at his hands. Despite the music playing at a generous volume in the back, it wasn’t hard to hear his voice from across the room since quiet electronica was playing. 

Souda let what Kuzuryuu say soak in about the bathroom. ...Seriously? Did these people have any dignity? Jesus.

“We should stop throwing parties. I mean, really?” Souda sighed, “These things seem to ruin life in general.”

“You know what’s messed up, we’re usually the ones getting screwed over in some way. It’s who we live with that have these great ideas.” Hinata rolled his eyes, albeit, heading back towards the balcony. He sure as hell didn’t want to face what was out there but it had to be done, he had unfinished business. “I’ll be back, I’m gathering my shit and coming back in to get you.”

“What shit are ya’ getting?” Souda bitterly chuckled.

“My drunkass boyfriend.”

“Good luck with that.” Kuzuryuu butted in again, standing up. After dusting off imaginary dust from his pants, he went out the front door probably to go get some fresh air. Souda said goodnight anyways, just in case the guy wasn’t going to walk back in. He coolly waved back making his exit.

Shortly after the young Yakuza left, on the other side of the apartment, not too far from where Souda was standing in the hallway. The balcony door slammed shut (from Hinata) and then it opened again. Kirigiri and Naegi walked by with the quickness. Naegi’s face was red and Kirigiri’s was purple, she was slightly pushing Naegi across the room to the door. The hell happened now? Pretty soon half of the people spilled back into the apartment only to go out the front door. Some people said good-bye or good-night to Souda, different tones and energy levels. Others didn’t say anything. Peko asked about Kuzuryuu, Souda told her where he went. She thanked him and actually jogged out the door, Hanamura was right on her tail muttering about how he saw the upper part of her thong when her shirt rode up. Saionji pushed him out, called him out on being disgusting then slapped Souda hard on the arm and sang out the front door with Koizumi (guess that’s her way of saying goodnight). 

He was glad to see people leave and was happy yet bitter when saying goodnight. One, they caused a lot of crap tonight, two some people didn’t acknowledge him the whole time (he’s used to that) and three, good lord, he can get to cleaning now. However, the trouble makers were still inside, all the perverted, sane or bitchy people left. There were still a few people inside, that including mystery people or person in his room, the people in the bathroom (if they didn’t walk out yet) Gundam, Tsumiki (taking care of people though she’s drunk), Leon (Obviously), Hinata, and a few others. 

That’s when the balcony door opened again, but more slowly this time. It was Leon. He probably got tired of being shoved in the corner like a bad kid. 

Souda had glanced back at him once, then accidentally did again when he felt Leon’s blue eyes bore into his face. Alright, what now?

“...Hey…” Leon casually greeted like he didn’t just beat the shit out of Gundam.

“...yo...” Souda solemnly replied. He wasn’t too receptive after what happened earlier.

Like Leon had read Souda’s mind, it took awhile for another reply. Finally, “...I’ll be in my room.” Leon muttered walking over to his door. Souda really wanted to ask Leon what was that earlier but he couldn’t bring himself to. Especially not when Gundam just walks out of the kitchen and is right there glaring at Leon from behind the pink haired man. Souda didn’t even know Gundam had lingered around. Tsumiki pulled him back into the kitchen yelling about the bandage on his cheek falling off. She must’ve been seeing blur of everything, because the thing was literally glued to his skin.

Randomly, after Tsumiki yelled that, a thought crossed Souda’s mind. “Wait, uh...I wouldn’t go in there, I saw some people on your bed.”

“...who…? Wait, what?” Leon grumbled peeking over his shoulder. “On my bed? Who ta’ fuck was on my bed?” he asked louder in a normal tone, but Souda could hear the anger laced in those words.

He hesitated. “...uhhh, I couldn’t make out the faces...but I think they were...y’know...” Souda reaallly didn’t want to rat out Hagakure and Sonia. First of all, Leon already has something out for Hagakure something he learned earlier that week and well, Souda still cares about Sonia though he’s not attracted to her anymore. Leon couls possibly snap again.

“Fuck. Godammit.” Leon pouted ruffling his red hair. “I just washed that shit too! Mind if I crash in your room? I wanna escape those fuckheads outside.” he already made his way over to the door supplementary to his.

“About that...I can’t get in my room either.”

Leon looked at Souda like he didn’t believe him until a smirk crossed his features. “Well fuck. I guess the bathroom? I gotta piss anyways...”

“Yeah, uh, that too…”

Leon bugged his black outlined eyes. “Oh my fuckin’ goodness where didn’t people monopolyze?”

Just as Leon said that, the door to the bathroom swung open and Sonia walked out, fixing her party dress and dusting off her heels. She slammed the door shut behind her and smiled turning to the three men.

“Oh, hello everyone, I shall be leaving now...”

“Oh, it’s you...” Leon mumbled. He was expecting a guy to walk out with his pants at his ankles. Not a princess.

Sonia tilted her head to the side turning towards Leon. “Hello, you look-ah…” Don’t say better. “Different! Thank you for throwing this fun party! I must be going now.”

“Yeah, you already said that.” Leon deadpanned.

“Well then, I don’t think there’s anything else I can say. Ah, yes, au revoir~” and with that Sonia just strolled out the front door like she didn’t just walk out the bathroom looking mad suspicious.

Leon didn’t hesitate for the bathroom door. He tried to turn the knob, but instead he was met with a loud click. He was locked out. 

“What the fuck? Ha, excuse me whoever, I gotta piss!”

He had to take a few deep breaths and laugh to himself so he wouldn’t kick the door off it’s hinges. 

“I’m going downstairs for a little bit.” Leon sighed walking out the front door in a second, shoulders heaped. He didn’t even glance at Gundam once, don’t think he planned on saying anything anyways. Guess Leon was so pissed he couldn’t even yell, he just laughed at how pathetic his anger was. Damn, so much for a recovery party.

“Is everything okay?” Chihiro literally popped out of nowhere. Well in reality, not literally because Souda’s door was left swinging open. Souda looked between the two eyebrows drawn in. 

Wait. What was Chihiro doing in his room? 

“Uhhh, hey. What were you doing in there?”

“Hiding...sorry, I’m not too good in social events like these…last time I was...something weird happened...”

Oh my god, Souda is so glad he didn’t bang on the door cursing. He would’ve scared poor Fujisaki. “No, don’t be, I wanted to hide too, maybe I should’ve asked if I could come in.”

“I heard the knob rustling a lot and I got scared, sorry I took your room for most of the night.” Just then Chihiro’s eyes began to water. Oh lord. Anything but that. 

“Hey don’t worry, I’m just glad nothing nasty was being done in there…” Souda remarked trying his best not to look upset in anyway. If Chihiro sensed anger, they would’ve just balled.

Gundam had cleared his throat. The programmers eyes shifted from the pink haired man to the bruised up bandaged ravenette. Hazel eyes widened with horror.

“AH! Tanaka! What happened to you?!” 

“I...fell down some stairs.”

Souda took a second for that to settle in his head, then looked over at Gundam like ‘you did not just say that.’

“Did you walk outside?” Chihiro pressed.

“No, he didn’t,” Souda pointedly looked at the liar. ”Gundam, why are ya’ lying like that?”

“...I was trying to ‘lighten up the mood’...” he said that motioning quote marks with his bandaged fingers.

Souda turned fully towards the animal breeder and put his hands on his hips. “You sure as hell didn’t lighten it up with that! What the hell type of joke was that supposed to be?”

“...Sarcasm?”

“...that’s just lying...”

“Call it what you want...perhaps my sense of humor is not like yours.”

“Wait, what is that supposed to mean?”

“Take it however you want but…”

Souda cut Gundam off, “Take it? Okay, ya’ offended me, that’s how I took it! Are you saying my sense of humor is lame? That I’m stupid?”

“...uh...no?”

Souda crossed his arms. “I don’t believe that...you really hurt my feelings…”

“I think you misunderstood everything.”

“You’re calling me stupid again!” Souda shouted pointing at the mans chest.

“When did I--”

Chihiro started giggling suddenly. The two arguing men looked over both puzzled as to why the programmer was tickled. 

“What’s so funny?”

“You guys argue like a married couple.”

Souda’s face twisted as he refused to let his cheeks turn pink, while Gundam’s face turned red and he hid behind his scarf.

“Pft, he’d probably just leave me in the delivery room, screaming as I push the baby out.” Souda pouted like he legit hasn’t thought of that scenario ever.

“What?” the two asked at the same time confused. 

Then the door to the balcony opened and a large group came inside. The rest of the people on the balcony. Including, Mondo, Nekomaru, Oogami, Hinata, Komaeda, Nanami, Tsumiki, Ibuki, Sayaka and Junko. Why there the last three there, who knows? Oddly enough Junko and Sayaka were laughing together as they walked inside even though minutes ago they were clawing each others faces.

“Ah, Souda-chan~” Ibuki sang hopping up in his face. “Where’s Tony the Tiger?”

‘Tony the tiger? What is that some furry sex kink nickname?’ “Oh, Leon...he’s outside.”

“Okie dokie thank...ah is that...Gundam-chan~?!” Ibuki hugged Gundam randomly then left the room. Okay. Whatever that was about. 

“Hey, what are you two up to tonight?” oh boy, Junko had just walked up. She had that shit eating grin on her face too.

“...what do you mean?” Souda asked slowly, almost afraid to even permit the girl into a conversation.

“You’re watching everyone leave so you can do something fuckin’ nasty huh?” she didn’t whisper it either, she said it really loud, the whole room heard it. Hell, Souda wouldn’t be surprised if the whole hallway did. Gundam spluttered and quickly used Nekomaru as a scapegoat, turning to the bodybuilder. Whereas Souda just turned red. 

“Junko what are you--?”

“Hahahaha~! Ohhh man, I should have a camera planted into your room, that shits gonna be feisty as fuck!” Junko literally started drooling grabbing Souda’s shoulders.

Souda put a hand over Junko’s drooling mouth, though he regretted it when she spluttered against it. “Shut up! Why are you yelling!”

She removed her hands from his shoulders to slap away his hand, “Cause I’m fuckin’ excited! If you want one more I’ll join in! Hell, where’s Sayaka, lets make it a full on orgy! Yo Sayaka!”

“No! Shut up! That’s not--” 

“Enoshima...stop pestering him.” Oogami came over with her arms crossed. Junko began laughing. 

“Oh Sakura, you feel left out huh? Is it because Asahina couldn’t make it? It’s okay we’ll make room for you too...”

“...”

“Okay fine buzzkill, I’ll leave him alone. But Souda, if you need someone call me.” Then she was gone. Seriously. What the fuck was that?

“...Thanks Oogami, that was getting crazy.” 

“It is fine, I do not want anything else to rise, we finally settled everything outside.”

“Good. But uh...it’s kind of a mess in here isn’t it?”

“Yes...but at least people are not fighting anymore.”

“You’re right.”

“Well, I’ll be leaving now, you have a good night.” Oogami bowed her head and walked away. 

“Thanks you too.” Souda called at her. Sayaka followed behind with Junko waving at Souda. He waved back, Junko winked at him, his skin crawled. Nekomaru gently pushed the model out as she kept making gestures.

Then slowly making its way to the door, he saw Nanami and Hinata struggling with two messes. One with purple hair and one with white. Souda facepalmed and shook his head. “Uh, you need help?”

“No. We’re fine.” Nanami said trying to support the taller girl on her shoulder. “Thanks for opening your home to this party...it was quite eventful...anyways we should be going now.”

“Yeah...uh…no problem.”

“Hey, you’re coming along?”

“Nah. My room is open now, thanks though.”

“Oh...okay…well goodnight...” Nanami yawned out sleepily walking out with deadweight on her back. Hinata struggled behind her with the lanky man. Seriously Komaeda was like that game ‘Mount your friends’, his limbs were doing things that Souda’s sure isn’t supposed to be possible.

“Hinata you need--”

“No he’s just, what the fuck, he’s been taking yoga so his limbs are crazy.” 

“I can help?”

“No. I’ll just---” Hinata lifted Komaeda bridal style and slid out the door. “I’ll see you later bro, sorry my hands are full!”

“Don’t hit his head on the wall.”

Then that left the two alone--

“Hey, where’s Leon?” Mondo was still here, Godammit. Oh, and Chihiro. Wait, why was he pissed. Half the people were gone and those two were alright. Was he pissed because he actually thought about what Junko said?

….

“Souda, I’m going to ask again, where’s Leon?” Mondo gruffed pouting his lip.

“Shit, sorry I zoned out. He’s downstairs. I told at least five people.” Souda remarked. Mondo huffed exhaustedly. “I hope he didn’t do anything stupid, you know how he is.” Mondo sounded like he didn’t even want to check.

“I think it’s okay for now...uhm, you can sleep here if you want, I just didn’t like all those other people.”

“Can I? I’m fucking exhausted.” Mondo mumbled just colliding with the couch pushed in a corner. Luckily, no one sat on it, so it was fresh and not covered in booze. Well new booze, he doesn’t know about the pastimes where Leon passes out and spills beer all over himself.

“I can tell…” Souda looked over at Chihiro. “Oh, and you too.”

“...Oh, I’m fine..” Chihiro quietly replied heading to the door.

“It’s too dangerous now, who knows who the fucks waiting in a alley.”

“What? Uh, I guess you’re right?” Chihiro squeaked.

“Damn Mondo, you don’t got to threaten the poor dude.”

“Mmmm...I’m sleeping.” Mondo grumbled putting a pillow over his head.

“Whatever, at least that’s over.”

“The party?”

“Yeah…” Souda turned towards Gundam. “I can’t believe you stayed the whole time though.”

“Of course, you underestimate my prowess.”

“I don’t know what that means but yeah, I guess I did.” Souda shrugged, “Anyways, now that there’s not a million ears around, can I just ask, what happened earlier?”

“...”

“C’mon, if you don’t tell me Leon isn’t..what happened?”

“...I was provoked.”

“Obviously, but by what?”

“We’ll talk another time, for now we shall sleep.”

“Huh? Wait no, I wanna know!” Gundam didn’t listen to Souda. Instead, he grabbed his arm and actually dragged the man to his bedroom. Souda complied sighing. Wait, Gundam was dragging him into his bedroom?

‘Oh my god, what is he going to do?’

-x-

Next morning.

Souda had never slept so well in his life. He literally has never cuddled with anyone ever, and he gets why people get addicted to it. It’s literally the best thing ever. 

Oh please, what did you think they did? Nothing else alright?

Anyways, long story short. Souda completely forgave Gundam for not telling him what the hell caused him to fight Leon. He wasn’t going to not ask though, anyone would be curious. But Gundam’s body felt so good to lean against, he didn’t want to ask yet, he just wanted to--

“WOOOOOOO! HOW IS EVERYONE DOING THIS FINNNE MORNING! IBUKI KNOWS SHE STINKS SO IBUKI IS GOING TO TAKE A SHOWER BUT THE BATHROOM IS LOCKED! AND LEON IS TAKING A SHIT IN THE OTHER ONE!”

Souda’s eyes widened as a loud females voice blared throughout the apartment. What the hell? 

“LEON WHAT THE FUCK I WAS SLEEPING!” really Mondo, it’s clearly a females voice.

“LEON? IBUKI IS NOT LEON! IT’S I TO THE B TO THE U TO THE K TO THE EYYYYE!”

“Owww!”

“MIODA? WHAT THE-?!”

“WAHOOOOO! C’MON MONDO BURGER! MOVE THEM MUSCLES!”

“GET OFF OF ME! IT’S TOO EARLY FOR THIS SHIT!”

“Help!” Chihiro weakly called. 

Their complaint bill was going to be super high now.

Souda flipped on his back and ran his hand over his face. “Fuck, they’re so loud!” he looked over at Gundam who was faced up with a set deadpan. Now awake with a scary red veiny eye complemented with the one red iris, that had a dark circle around it thanks to last nights brawl. However, Gundam’s eye socket looked very abnormal like he…

Souda shrieked. “Gah!...Oh my god, you forgot to take out your contact?”

Gundam looked over at Souda. The latter shrinked back. To say the least, Gundam looked frightening and Souda made sure to convey that through his expressions. 

Gundam sighed, “...Ugh, seems I have. Damn it all to hell. I must’ve been too exhausted to care.” he put a hand over his right eye.

“Dude, stop talking and just wash your eye out in the bathroom over there before it gets infected!” Souda panicked. “You’re going to have to wear an eyepatch like Fuyuhiko before it’s all over with!” Gundam slowly looked up at the ceiling as if it was his own way of rolling his eyes then sat up slowly scratching his head.

“Why are you moving so slow?!”

“Silence!”

“AAAHHH!! YOUR GLARES ARE SENDING CHILLS UP IBUKI’S SPINE!” another ear piercing scream in the microphone from Ibuki. Souda shook his head.

“What the heck? They need to shut the hell up! Dammit, this morning is already off to a crazy start what’s next?” Souda complained throwing the covers off in a strong pull, uncovering both the men. He was about to confront the loud musician, yet, something caught his attention through his peripheral vision. Slowly, he looked over at Gundam and saw that...well...

Souda’s mouth was open for about a minute before his eyes trailed up to the Animal Breeders face. “Gundam, why are you naked?” Last time Souda checked, he was not naked, when the hell did Gundam get naked?

“What do you mean? I am obviously wearing underwear. My day clothes were uncomfortable so I took them off.” Souda still stared at Gundam with wide eyes, “...hm, could it be your astral level isn’t high enough? That would explain why you can’t see the material. Fear not though, I am clothed.”

“W-W-W-WHAT TYPE OF EXCUSE IS THAT---?!” Souda gestured wildly, his face flamming hot, he thought his ears were going to begin steaming on top over everything else. “Oh my god, wait, I’m not ready! Gundam please!” Souda covered his mouth with both his hands, completely speechless. Why hadn’t ‘please put some clothes on’ come out his mouth first?

...

“What?” Gundam asked right before a loud bang echoed against the wood panel door.

“SOUDA-CHAN, GUNDAM-CHAN WAKKKKKE UP!” Lucky for Souda, Ibuki already knew the two were in his room annnd the door was unlocked. With ease, Ibuki opened the door and waltzed right into this mess, humming a fast beat song that normally wouldn’t sound ryhtmical out of someone else’s throat. 

Hair wild and clad in a black robe, she stopped in her stride once she laid eyes on the scene in front of her. Her mouth formed a ‘o’ shape. Gundam was butt naked in Souda’s bed. Souda was sitting next to him in his bright ass underwear, face red, mouth wide open, with no shirt on. 

How would that look?

Very questionable.

“OH MY GOD!” Ibuki clawed her cheeks. “WOOOOO GUNDAM IS PACKING DOWN THERE! YOU SAID YOU’RE NOT READY FOR THAT SOUDA-CHAN?!”

“HOLY SHIT! IBUKI GET OUT!” Souda screamed, voice cracking like a prepubescent boy as he threw his pillow at the door. Gundam didn’t have anything to cover himself with so he just sat there staring at Ibuki trying to make things look as natural as he could.

Ibuki spent about a minute dodging Souda’s endless amount of pillows before she closed the door and ran away giggling. 

“...Oh my fucking god.” Souda sighed already overwhelmed by the few minutes he was awake. 

Gundam got up very slowly and walked to the bathroom. 

Just as the bathroom door closed Mondo came breaking the bedroom door down. 

“Hey! I heard yelling in here! Did that crazy chick do some shit to you?”

“Why do people keep barging in here? And no. That’s a bullshit excuse, you just wanted to get a peek--”

“--Goddamn Souda, what the fuck is up with your underwear?” Mondo perfectly cut off the mechanic with a puzzled expression.

Souda stopped his train of thought and looked down at himself to see what Mondo was talking about. It was just his bright colored underwear, nothing was peeking out or anything. “ _What?!_ What’s wrong?”

“MAN C’MON!” Mondo shielded his eyes. What the hell got into him?

“What did I do?! Hey, why did you barge in here anyways?!”

“Put some pants on man! I can almost see everything!” Mondo was getting realllly loud, like he usually does when he’s nervous. Souda couldn't believe it though, why was he making such a scene about his damn underwear? Damn, this was too much for the morning.

“Why are you lookin’ at me like that? Annnnd~ this is my room so can you get out?! Thank you!” 

Just then, after the last syllable of 'you', the bathroom door opened and Gundam Tanaka came out in his half naked, pale glory. He at least put a towel over his bottom half. If he didn’t do that and came out the way he went in, Mondo would’ve had a royal fit. He already was freaking out about Souda's underwear which was just awkward as fuck. 

“Oh shit! What is going on in here?” Mondo uttered loudly. Nothing that comes out his mouth is a whisper, but it sounded like Mondo was using his speaking over death metal voice. Souda had to bite the shit out of his lip to prevent himself from cursing Mondo out completely. It was very tempting at this point. However, the biker isn't stupid, and rather observant (some may argue with that statement who deem him as a meathead and only that). He watched Souda’s face turning redder by the second. Half embarrassment, half anger. “Shit man, I’m so sorry! I'll knock next time!” then the door slammed shut for the second time that morning. Souda sighed heavily, letting his face turn back to it’s normal color.

Running both hands down his face, Souda let out another heavy exhale. “Oh my god, why is everyone so damn invasive here? Even people who don't live here!”

“Is it always like this?” Gundam asked.

“Yeah, and I don’t get used to it either.”Well that’s one thing he can say, living with Leon, he hasn’t complained about how bored he is, ever.

“So uh, now that we're on the topic...” They were no where near 'the topic' except the whole ‘living situation thing’ but in Souda’s mind it somewhat was directly related. “...uhh...what happened last nig--”

“I wouldn’t talk about it right now.” Gundam cut off Souda perfectly putting on his shirt.

Souda jerked his neck back. That was freaking fast. “E-excuse me?”

“Another time. For now do not worry...” Gundam didn't even hesitate to repeat himself. Goddamn.

“Another time? Like when? Never?” 

Gundam gave Souda a look. Yeah, no coercing here.

Souda decided it was best for him to stop prodding and trying to persuade the dude. Obviously he can't just ask flatly, or do some half ass bullshit 'on the topic' crap either. Yeah, he has to somewhat blame himself for making such an uncouth attempt to bring up a sensitive subject. However, he felt like something had to be asked or said. He can’t go on too long asking ‘so what happened?’. Even though it was the next day, that could probably turn into days, weeks, then months. Then conveniently he’s going to be told ‘it's not that important’ or ‘I completely forgot, don't worry’. 

Now he was reallly curious. Whatever was said really did bother Gundam that much to the point where he didn’t want to even talk about it in the same vicinity of the person. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to uh, ask like that...” Souda tried to sound empathetic, though he felt like he sounded dumb.

Gundam grunted in response throwing on his jacket and walking out the room.

Souda leaned back on his bed and sighed the umpteenth time that morning.

Smooth bro.

-x-

Gundam left before Leon woke up and after Souda gave him a hug that didn’t have to be so damn awkward.

Souda had to wonder, when the hell was he going to get that kiss on the lips?

Pfft.

Not to rush anything but Souda knows good and damn well their overdue for that shit even though he can't nerve up to call Gundam his boyfriend. Maybe Gundam is scared of Souda’s shark teeth and thinks Souda is a animorph and might transform into a shark and eat him? 

...

Whatever the case, Souda was frustrated, hated himself after the missed opportunities and Mondo saw it pretty damn well from the kitchen. At the moment, Ibuki was somewhere else and Chihiro left.

“You got it bad.”

“Shut up.” Souda knew he was right though.

“You looked so desperate right there, I almost wanted to pay the guy to-”

“--Will you shut up Oowada? No one asked for your input!” Souda hissed glaring over his shoulder.

The biker folded his arms and raised an eyebrow, “When you make a scene like that, I can’t help but comment on it.”

“Whatever, you were just being nosy. You should’ve left the room or cooked something.”

“Don’t you have work?” he so effortlessly tried to change the subject.

Souda rolled his brown eyes. “Don’t you have some eyeliner to put on?” Souda wittily spat back.

“C’mon man, don’t be like that, I was fuckin’ with ya.”

“I’m not fuckin’ anyone this morning.” Souda quipped putting a hand on his hip.

Lavender eyes widened. “W-Whoa, I didn’t say that!” There he goes again, getting loud. Maybe the dude should've been a lifeguard or an announcer with his volume range.

“Whatever man, I gotta get dressed for work, I'm already going to be late, can't be later.” Souda sassed turning on his heel going back to his bedroom. He really felt like crap but he knows he has to bring the bacon home. He just needed a piece of fruit and coffee and he'd be good to go. He felt particularly ill this morning however. 

When he passed a disgruntled Mondo, walked through the hallway and up to his bedroom, a figure stopped him in his path. He bounced off the body like a spring and stumbled a few inches back into the hallway.

“Who the-? Wait, what are you doing in my room?”

Icy blue eyes narrowed dangerously. “I need to talk to you, now.”

Souda’s eyes widened.

He did not need this shit before his work day ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the cliffhanger...I'm just going to...
> 
> /grins widely
> 
> Alright, so yes, I know it's been 2 months?! A little over?! I apologize!  
> Who can we blame for this delay? School and just life in general. 
> 
> But I made a damn long chapter! You gotta admit! It was 17 pages on the docs!
> 
> okay, I'm being real right now, I literally had 8 freaking other outcomes of this chapter. I felt like I was writing a bad end/good end route or law vs. chaos vs. neutral route. Then I picked one and elaborated more on it, in hopes that I would be satisfied with it. Which I am, but the struggle was real. It was so real. 
> 
> Souda and Gundam still grey area? I don't think so, we may be getting to a area! But on who's end? Who is contributing more? I imagine Souda liking cuddles because of his lonely childhood, and he just melts realizing 'omg this is what I've been missing out on?'. And of course Gundam likes cuddling because, animals, the four dark gods of destruction. he's surrounded by that shit all the time!
> 
> And Leon needs to chillll. lol
> 
> Any who, almost 1000 views? O_O c'mon guys, this is too much! you guys are awesome, I never knew I'd get this much love on something like this. really, and the comments and kudos too? It all gives me motivation to crunch out and continue this story all the more. I appreciate every millisecond of support. lol  
> sorry I can't help but be so corny. OTL
> 
> About the other chapter, someone also mentioned in a comment how that soniaxhagakure thing freaked them out. I had a good laugh with that. Personally though I can't look at hagakure and sonia the same because of what I did to them myself, feel ya. Hope no one feels the same, yet I do if that's kinda bad? /insert sadistic smile here
> 
> anyways! thank you again, and stay tuned for the next chapter! I HOPE you guys enjoyed this chapter.
> 
> 7 is also my favorite number btw.


	8. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> souda decides to put his foot down in the best way he can  
> ;  
> I do not own anything mentioned in this chapter.

**Escape**

 

**;**

 

“What do we need to talk about?” 

Leon had posed himself perfectly in the doorway where no one, or more specifically Souda couldn’t even try to slide by. He looked like a statue or more like a bouncer at a nightclub blocking underage kids from entering. 

Anyways, Souda had no intention to not agree to whatever Leon wanted to talk about in the first place. Even if the guy was barricading his room like a castle guard or not, by all means would he take this as an opportunity to ask what the heck happened. He did take into account that he needs to mentally prepare himself for the unknown. Because he was already getting ready to start his day with a headache that felt like ice needles being stuck into his skull.

And Leon’s expression did not read as a one for a ‘pleasant’ and lighthearted conversation, so whatever happens, happens. Souda prepared himself for the repercussions. He still had to know, from whoever, he could hear the story from a drunk sleep deprived homeless man. He just wants to know what the hell went down last night between these two, because its eating away at him. 

The sooner he finds out the lesser the consequences are.

“What do we need to talk about?” Souda repeated himself after Leon remained silent.

“Him.” he answered with the quickness.

Wow. Souda didn’t even have to try, holy shit.

“Him?” Souda made sure he heard him right and it wasn’t his brain making up words.

“Yeah, _him._ ” Leon quipped, folding his arms. Now he was assured. Okay, now that that was crossed off the list, next was the incident. But first...

“Okay, but can we at least get inside my room? We have a set of ears nearby…” a loud clank was heard from the kitchen just to emphasize. Souda rolled his eyes, goddammit Mondo. 

Very irritatedly, Leon rolled his eyes too and walked further inside to let Souda inside his own room. 

Now if Souda didn’t know Leon too well, he would’ve been very uncomfortable contrary to a normal level of uncomfortable standing alone in the same room as him. Leon looked guarded despite the fact that he was the one who forced himself on Souda this morning. That is, excluding his external appearance. Taking that into account. Yes, Leon was affected by the beat down as much as the text may have not elaborated that night. But he indeed looked like he got in a nasty fight last night. Overnight, it got worst; bruises were seen all over his body, his hair was a dark root, fake red dye mess, black eyeliner smudged, veins bulging in his eyes, his knuckles were wrapped with bandages.The skin was torn from fighting and punching everyone on the goddamn balcony. Not literally but hypothetically. One positive out of everything was that, he didn’t have a black eye like Gundam.

If it was a regular morning without weird ass attitudes, without a horrible headache and waking up with a naked man, Souda would’ve definitely told him how horrible he looks. But now, Souda could give less than a flying rats ass about that. He still is pissed off at Leon for throwing the very rushed and untimely party in the first place. Him and Ishimaru told him it wouldn’t end good, and lo and behold, they were right. 

“Alright,” Souda closed the door to at least initiate something of this pregnant silence. Also to keep Mondo’s nosy ass out their business. “So what’s up with _him_? Why did you mention him? I know who you’re talking about...”

“Do you know how insulting it is for me to wake up and find out that the very man who fought me inside my own home is fuckin’ sleeping over night in my home?” Leon jumped right into the topic. Didn’t even spare a chance for Souda to even pause at the end of his question. Lovely. It was one of those mornings. Souda couldn’t even warm up or get a ‘good morning’ or even say ‘make this quick I got work later.’ Nope, he didn’t even catch a breath. 

No foundation set for him, the pink haired man knew he had to be smart with his next choice of words. He has to think of a non-threatening or non-argumentative way to combat that bold statement. 

However, Leon steamrolled him, “What if you got in a fight with someone, and then I slept with them down the hallway?” a complete bombardment of opinionated questions. At this point Souda was confused if they were rhetorical or not.

He went for the latter, “Well to start off...uh, that’s not what happened.”

“That’s not what happened? Then lemme guess, it was someone else? Heh alright Sou, then what the fuck happened? I could hear you giggling from across the goddamn hallway.”

Souda furrowed his brows, where the hell was this conversation going? Such a weird thing to bring up. “...giggling? Wait what? Is that why you’re pissed off?”

“Yeah, amongst over things...”

“Giggling? Really? Do you know I hear way worst shit whenever you have whoever the hell over?” Souda couldn’t help but not hide his attitude, he was irritated that he had to deal with this right now. Instead of waiting it just had to be brought up now. 

Leon clicked his tongue, he looked very close to responding to that statement, but he didn’t. Instead he purposely disregarded the unabatable truth. “I’m not done yet.” Souda still had his eyebrows knitted together. Leon was still talking, “It all runs in a circle.

“What circle are you talkin’ about? Is this going to take forever, I have work...” Souda started towards his drawer pulling out clothes. 

“That I get no respect whatsoever. I thought we were really friends. Can’t even take a moment to talk to me...you already came up with an excuse” Leon cut Souda off. Souda cut his eyes at Leon. “But honestly, can’t you see the fucked upness in that? Just saying fuck my feelings and letting the asshole stay up in here?”

“What? First of all, that’s not what I meant to do, to be honest I wasn’t thinking beyond myself…there was no hidden agenda on my behalf. I was tired and confused. I knew you guys fought but I didn’t think it was something either one of you would hold onto...”

Leon made a menacing smirk, propping his hand on Souda’s dresser. “No hidden agenda on your half, but what about his?”

“I don’t like where this is going…” Souda snatched his socks out of the drawer.

“Me neither, but it has to be said.”

“Listen, I’m telling the truth, I honestly don’t know what happened, what caused all this. And how can you say I disrespected you when I wasn’t even aware?”

“You did, and then that happened.”

“What?”

“...”

“Leon...I honestly don’t know what happened, talk to me...”

“What do you mean? Ya’ saw it with your own eyes, he punched me!”

Souda threw his night shirt off, “Yeah, and I saw a puddle of blood on the ground, do you think he would want to be in the same vicinity as the guy who almost broke his fuckin’ nose?!” 

“...and now you’re defending him...”

“Because you’re attacking him, and I am right. You disrespected me by punching him in the fuckin’ nose when you know I’m dating him!” Souda had to take his stance now.  
“Well surprise surprise, I didn’t know you were even involved with this guy until last night!”

Souda’s jaw slackened. ‘Oh shit.’ He actually didn’t tell Leon about his new relationship. But then who told him last night? Who told him because Souda didn’t tell anyone jack shit.

“You don’t even know the full story and yet you’re defending him.” 

Souda threw his hands up, “Alright so whats your excuse so we can move on?” 

“Some guy you just fell in love with versus a guy you’ve been friends with since fuckin’ high school,” Leon bitterly chuckled, “See, you’re jumping to conclusions off of your own understanding. Next you’re gonna say I was drunk, I drank too much and I just felt like fighting. But you know me, and you know that I don’t punch people out of a drunken bout or for the fucks of it! I hate confrontation, but if I get provoked I fight!”

Souda exhaled heavily, he felt like he was running in circles with this guy. “Alright alright, what the hell happened?! What provoked you? I asked him and he said you provoked him.”

“Tch, he’s fuckin’ lying. I just told him to watch his step.”

“You did? Why would you tell him that?”

“He was standing there all proudly with this fuckin’ smug expression. I was wondering...why the hell would Souda want to be with someone like this?”

Souda felt like his head was about to explode from this vexing news. Honestly, was Leon really pulling this card now? After listening to everything, admitting to accept. Was that bullshit? So what if he didn’t tell him? Was it intentional no. And what if Leon was lying that he never told him just for a better excuse?

“So you’re saying that he looked at you wrong and that caused you to fuckin’ punched him? Do you know that is just as worse of an excuse than blaming it on the alcohol?” truth be told, Souda feels like he should be the one irked out of everyone. People just can’t chill and let him enjoy things for a minute.

Leon clicked his tongue, “Give me a break, I try to chat with the guy and he mean mugs me!”

“...so? You’re a grown man! You should know better than to do that!”

“That’s besides the fuckin’ point. Why should I be pushed around?!” Leon yelled back.

“What the fuck were your intentions anyways? And who told you? Were you looking for a fight?”

“Don’t try and flip it on me, I just told you what happened.”

“You told him to back the fuck off? Why? Why would you do that? You’re not my mom, you’re not my dad. What is your fuckin’ reason?!”

“...” Leon shook his head, “I didn’t know that you and Gundam were going out until I talked to him last night!”

“I never told you, that is why you punched him? What type of logic do you run on?!”

“That’s not it--! Look, you’re acting so nonchalant about it! I mean, really Sou? You’re not even getting to point. First it was his attitude, then it was the added injury of you not telling me.”

“I forgot...I forgot okay? No malice behind forgetting, it slipped my mind. That is if you’re not making up an excuse.”

Leon scoffed, “Really? So, how the fuck can you forget to tell me? You we goin’ fuckin’ gaga over this guy weeks ago, and all of the sudden when you get with him your silent and forget?! What? Do you think I’m going to get jealous?”

“No? Why would that cross my mind?” ‘Dude, he has more going on than me, why the hell would he mention that?’, “You just got out freakin’ critical care after being knocked out by a damn table so it was a lot of things going on at once...”

Leon heaved a loud sigh, “...Yeah, I know but that still isn’t a good excuse-”

“--Shouldn’t you be more happy that I actually cared the whole time? I didn’t just care about myself for once? But what? He still pissed you off? You still haven’t exactly told me why you punched him. Yeah he had an attitude but does that really set you off? I explained myself...”

“...I told you...” 

Souda waited for more with that response, he got nothing else from Leon. So, he proceeded to get dressed. “Listen, I gotta get ready for work, we’ll talk about this another time...” This all was too much for the morning. Being bombarded without any warning, and expecting to go to work after an open ended argument. He would’ve thought Leon was too sore from his fight last night that he couldn’t move. He almost would’ve preferred it to have went that way. But of course, the universe hates Kazuichi Souda and doesn’t want him to feel happiness for at least a full 24 hour period.

And yes, he gets it. It is wrong and messed up of him not to tell his roommate and best friend about a new relationship. But it wasn’t intentional, it slipped his mind. Wasn’t like he schemed and lied just to cover a truth. 

All in all, Souda sees nothing extremely bad about this situation, and that it’s simply over exaggerated to be something horrible for the sake of a good excuse.

Maybe in the end Leon truly doesn’t like Gundam, that’s all it is. Why does he not like him? That’ll remain a mystery to Souda until he finds out. Whenever the heck that’ll be.

“I don’t think he cares as much as you're making it seem.” 

Souda slipped on his sneakers and zipped up a black jumpsuit. “...Why?” 

“That’s just me, I think you deserve better…”

He put on his beanie. “What?”

“Yeah, that’s how I feel and I’m sticking to it.”

_‘Wow. So much for ‘like whoever you want’ and ‘Do I look like I give a fuck about whoever you wanna date.’_

“Gundam’s not the only one you fought anyways...you fought Mondo too...” Souda narrowed his eyes. 

“Shut up, that has nothing to do with you. We're talking about Gundam.”

Souda finished getting dressed in his work clothes and grabbed his phone, his keys headphones and wallet. “...I don’t care if you don’t like Gundam or if you have a personal vendetta against him for whatever he said that you refuse to tell me. But I think you’re being a bit too possessive and you need to chill…I’m a grown ass man with my own life...

Leon looked confused.

“I’ve been miserable this last year and found a happiness...and you..." he took a deep breath, "Just need to back the fuck off," Souda closed the conversation that way. He walked right by Leon, gave him one final look then opened his bedroom door.

Mondo was still in the kitchen but he had company, Ibuki was nowhere to be found but for some odd reason Hagakure was in the kitchen talking to Mondo. Souda took one wondering glance at Hagakure but didn’t bat his eyes lashes twice when he stormed out the front door.

Why did he feel like that needed to be said yet still he felt horrible?

-x-

  
“Hey, are you at work right now?”

“Nope. Took the day off.”

“Wait, you didn’t go in today? Didn’t Togami ask you to at the party?”

“Yeah, he did but fuck that. I’m not going to be his lapdog...he better find someone else to torment.”

“Uhh, yikes okay, well..uhm...do you have a minute?”

“I can talk. What’s up? Did you find out what happened last night?”

“Yeah. Leon told me this morning, well his side anyways, he said he punched Gundam because he had an attitude or some shit.”

“...Wow…that was it?”

“I swear that guy has fuckin’ issues, and then he tried to blame it on the fact that I never told him we were dating.”

“Wait...you and Gundam are dating?”

Souda furrowed his brows. “Crap, thats right. I forgot to tell you too. The whole Leon being unconscious shit plagued my mind that whole week.”

“It happens, don’t worry. But congrats, you two are now official, no longer a fantasy in your head.” Souda heard a smirk on Hinata's side but ignored it.

Literally putting it into words made Souda grin a bit. “To be real with ya’, I’m still shocked but happy. I wish I could fully enjoy it without this crap.” Souda rolled his eyes, “I wish Leon was as chill as you...actually cheer me on than tear me down...”

“Well you know, different people, different perks.” Hinata was trying not to toot his own horn, he was close from saying 'I know I'm a good person.'

“Can you believe that he reacted so bad to the news? I thought he cared man.” Souda leaned back in his work chair, putting his hand on top of his head.

“He’s jealous.”

“What?”

“Leon’s jealous. There’s no reason for him to not be like that unless for that reason. He’s probably going to start lashing out at you too.”

“...” Souda had to put his phone down on the counter and hit the speaker button to cradle his head in his hands. How come he had not thought about that? 

“To me, Leon is kinda egotistic as well as possessive, that’s a wound for you to not include him on everything, especially this case so...”

“-fuck, do you think he likes me?”

“Probably that too. People lash out when they can’t have something...”

“Fuck Hinata, don’t scare me.”

“It’s all speculation, I’m probably not a hundred percent right but...”

“No no no, you’re makin’ so much sense right now. My mind is getting blown. I’m recalling everything, the conversation earlier he said something about giggling and I was like 'what the fuck'. And towards the end I told him that he’s become too possessive after he told _me_ he thought Gundam wasn’t right for me and then I told him to back the fuck off.” Hinata made a ‘ouch’ comment. Souda continued, “I mean I would respect his opinion but the way he came at me this morning was just...jacked up...”

“Now you have a jealous roommate who is extremely passionate about his way…” A loud bark was heard on Hinata’s side of the phone. “Sou, just as a fore warning, living there is going to be rough for a lil bit. With your two personalities, it’s going to get climatic...” he said like he was bearing bad news.

Souda massaged his head and temples. Fucking hell, Hinata has a valid point.

“Can I live with you and Komaeda for like a month?” Souda switched gears, he was not dealing with all this bullshit. No, no freaking way was he dealing with that mess at home. 

“Huh?”

“I’ll pay some of rent, I just-I just don’t want to deal with this... fuck.” Souda stretched his neck, “I need this like a hole in the head.”

“I mean sure but...do you really want to live with us?”

“It’s only temporary, to get a break...I have no one else...you two are the only people who actually can stand me...”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to act too soon...”

“Leon would be more than happy to live without me for a little bit. Especially since he gave me the 4-1-1 and told me that he doesn’t want anything Gundam related in his home.”

“You know to be honest I need something else around here besides this dog and Komaeda, he’s been a little insane lately…and Hope is too hyper.”

“...on second thought…”

“What?”

“I was kidding.” 

They both laughed, although Souda felt extremely strained doing that.

“You’re serious though, I can move in? I know its short notice but...”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s no big deal, you’re my best friend, I won’t leave you hanging.”

“Thanks man, I owe you.”

“Quite the contrary...anyways I have to walk this annoying ass dog, I’ll talk to you later about it.”

“Yeah, I need to take my break. My head is killin’ me.”

“Alright then, take care of that, talk to you soon.”

“Yeah, peace out.”

“Bye.”

Souda slid his finger across the screen to end the call. Afterwards he laid his head on the front desk. It felt like it was juicy watermelon splitting open. He couldn’t tell if it was a hangover, if he had the flu or it was a cluster headache from all the bullshit earlier. Even after eating a piece of fruit, staying away from coffee, since studies now say it makes headaches worse, and getting an ice pack and putting it against his temples. He was still in excruciating pain. 

People normally say acupuncture, botox, or biofeedback magnetic stimulation thingymajiggy is the best way to defeat the pain. But Souda is at work. He can’t just jump out of his office and make an acupuncture appointment or inject some botox into himself or do whatever fancy work to get rid of this. 

One positive is that he at least has one dependable friend. Since family is out of the question for him.

-x-

  
Souda had no intent on speaking to Leon. So when he came home and found that nobody was home he was happy. After his conversation with Hinata he saw things in a new light. He was a mature person, he tried to deal with things but this situation was too uninhibited for Souda to toggle in his fragile state. So, he decided to just let it simmer and cool down.

Though he has not had the second part of the conversation with Hinata, he started packing up his suitcases. He had never been so anxious to just get the hell out of his home. Even though the atmosphere was tense for some odd reason…

“Oi Kazuichi!”

“GAH!” Souda dropped his lucky wrench on his big toe. Making contact with a loud 'thud'. He grabbed the nub and started hopping around on one foot like a premature ballerina. “Goddamit! F-fuck! Hagakure?” the stoner and fortune teller was standing right in his doorway, looking an absolute mess with a drug rug hoodie and cargo pants. No shoes. 

“AAAHHH!" He screamed back even though Souda was the one who was scared first. "Dude! Dont' hurt me! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you--here let me help!”

“No, just fuck-ah!”

“I'm so sorry dude! Don't go hulk on me! Wait... I don’t think I can do that 'fuck'.”

Souda made a irritated exhale and gave Hagakure a look. The other cowered back after trying to help, eyes wide and red. Souda finally just sat down on his bed and kept twisting his toe to ease the pain or increase, who the hell knows. Anywho, why the hell was Hagakure in his place?

“What are you doing here weed head?”

“Ha.” Hagakure laughed, a big smell of weed permeated throughout the room as he did that. Souda coughed. “I uh, slept over last night.”

“You mean you passed out, lemme guess you were in the bathroom with Sonia? I saw you two on Leon's bed.”

Hagakure started blushing. "Uh don't mention that to anyone...heheh...I don't want Leon to kill me.“ Souda rolled his eyes, he already saved his ass later on that night. "But no, I was on the balcony. I remember arguing with Mukuro and then passing out.”

“...You got knocked the fuck out then. What did you do?”

“Don't remember what I did. I feel a bump on my head. I think I should get it checked out...” Hagakure mumbled something else that Souda could not comprehend.

“But still, why are you lingering around here?”

“Mmm...Leon was pretty mad, that crazy chick with the scene hair left angry, then him and Mondo went out for lunch or something. They invited me, but I chose to stick around because my head is spinning...”

“...Ugh…so he's pissed...”

“What’s up?”

“We got in a argument over something personal.”

“...oh. Sorry to hear that.”

“No...it’s fine...well it’s not but it’s fine…”

“...He mentioned you were having nightmares not too long ago...I’m not a doctor but I know a few things about interpreting dreams…perhaps I can help you, but it’s gonna cost ya.”

Souda cut his eyes at Hagakure, “Hell no, I’m not paying you!”

“I was joking, it’s on me!”

“...” Souda half lidded his eyes. 

“...” Hagakure was grinning. 

Souda sighed and shook his head, “Alright...I guess I’ll tell you. But if you try to charge me...” Hagakure nodded his head eagerly. The pink haired man couldn’t fight the urge to roll his eyes. Yet, he continued, “Yeah, I’ve been having night terrors, they've been messin’ up my whole daily routine…” Hagakure nodded. Souda felt like Hagakure had signed up to be his therapist or something, what the fuck did this day turn into? Anyways, Souda continued on, “And lots of them were about killing...either someone I knew, old classmates...they were killing someone I cared about or I witnessed a killing or I was killing someone...specifically there was someone I cared about and for a few nights in a row it kept happening with gruesome methods different each time. Then there were some nights what I think are like circus edition, fucking carnival exhibitions, turn into executions for someone. And I have seen myself in one of them, and it’s fuckin’ terrifying...”

He paused. “Oh yeah, and there’s this evil teddybear that laughs and talks...I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere but I don’t know…”

“...You saw killing and killers right?” Souda nodded. Hagakure put a hand to his chin and began explaining, “Well...killing/murder in a dream is like putting an end to a old way of thinking or a habit or and end of a addiction…” Souda blinked. “More commonly though, it represents impending losing self-control. And whoever you were killing repeatedly may have something to do with lost of identity and individuality. And that person may have something you need or don’t need. And the aggression of killing is the only way you know how to express yourself is because your mind is recklessly and violently heeding situations. Or perhaps its not as grim and its the beginning of a healing process after dramatically ending a chapter in your life...”

“Now, Bears usually symbolize a cycle and deep introspection...you may be really thinking about your life and what it has become or how to improve it in order for happiness or whatever you feel is missing in your life. Kind of weird paired with killing and murder. Altogether, the execution is powerful because that is directly telling you that you are harboring guilt and you want to throw away a part of yourself...kind of go hand in hand with murder...”

Souda’s jaw dropped open. Hagakure may seem like an idiot to many, but goddamn, he knew what shit meant in dreams.

“And you said carnival...now carnivals--”

“That’s enough, thank you.” Souda put a hand in front of Hagakure. 

“Huh? Oh, that’s all you wanted to hear? I have a lot to say about the carnival theme!”

“I mean, I usually don’t believe crap like that but...it ties in so perfectly with my life.”

“...It helped, didn’t it?”

“Yeah...I’ve been meaning to talk to you about it...and now I'm glad to, I see things a bit more clearer.” 

“Eh yeah...but you don’t want to think too much about it, because you might start acting like you do in your dreams. If you have night terrors it’s easy for them to effect your daily life directly. Don't want them to turn into day terrors...heheheh.” Souda kept a straight face. "No? Bad joke...okay..." 

“...It’s already been in effect though, there were so many times where I couldn’t tell what was real or not. Sleepless nights.”

“Now that you should see a legit doctor or therapist about...not me, I’m no expert on health!” Hagakure laughed, Souda smiled.

“Yeah, you’re right…”

“Welp, I guess that’s it! If you have more questions you know where to get me!”

“Yeah, thanks Hagakure. You helped clear a lot of doubt.”

“No problem. Anytime, but next time I’ll charge ya’!" Souda lidded his eyes again. "Ouch, excuse me...I’m going to get an ice pack for my head, it’s throbbing. I’ll never be around those crazy pyscho twins again.” Hagakure slumped out of Souda’s room rubbing his scalp. Souda actually saw the bump and grimaced, it looked like it popped straight out of a looney tunes cartoon.

All in all, he felt refreshed. With a new light shed on his dreams and knowing what they meant. He was glad that Hagakure didn’t ask about who it was. But telling that he is not much of a gossiper unlike his previous classmates, it makes sense he wouldn’t care much about that detail. 

What striked Souda as odd was that Leon had told Hagakure he had night terrors?

Was he trying to help?

...

Well if he was, it still wasn’t going to change his mind about living with Hinata and Co. for a month. Maybe Leon is the person he needs to cut out of his life. That is what Hagakure told him, someone may need to be cut out. 

Souda stood up from his bed and continued packing his suitcase, picking up the lucky wrench that had reddened his toe and stuffing it into his front suitcase pocket. There was no need for him to wait any longer for Leon and Mondo to come back and find him in the middle of packing. Rising many questions and possibly a second argument in the same day. However long they were going to stay out, Souda wasn’t up for finding out whenever they would return.

-x-

About Sunday afternoon was when Souda moved in with Hinata and Komaeda. Saturday night, Souda spent as much time at his shop as he could before going home. Dealing with Leon was just something he was not up to doing. 

Lugging his bags into the apartment, Souda sighed of relief. “Thanks for letting me stay here," he rested his suitcases against a wall in the entrance of their home, then looked down beyond the living room. "Holy shit, its really neat here. Looks like an executives place. Do you guys hire maids? What the-” Souda stared down at a modern statue that resembled a fallen angel bionic animal thing. Who the fuck invests into this shit? Either Hinata has weird taste or Komaeda has weird interests. Its confirmed that Komaeda has weird taste. Yet, Hinata must be strange loving a guy like Komaeda. In high school no one would have predicted that Hinata would end up with Komaeda of all people. Hell, Hinata was such a dude bro and Komaeda was such a freak. Talk about a big turn around. Being friends is one thing, but getting serious in a relationship. Holy moley. 

Okay, now we're getting off topic.

Anyways, besides that piece of atrocity that seemed out of place like Hanamura on a fashion week runway. Hinata and Komaeda’s apartment is modern and posh compared to his and Leon’s cluttered cave. Well, his place isn't bad but compared to this place. Ehhh...it's iffy. Souda has been over here a lot, but actually seeing it to its entirety and getting a personal tour makes him see its much larger than he thought. Also it looks like they added a few things from the last time he was there. 

"Are you going to show me the place or not?"

"Yeah, sorry I was checking the mail." Hinata threw a large pile of paper onto a end table and started down the hallway. 

 

So during the tour, their fatass welsh corgi puppy, Hope, decided to join. She slid all over the place when Souda walked in and out of rooms. Begging for attention.

Souda doesn't know how to interact with animals so he would just look down and smile at her. Same goes for him and babies, what do they want? To be burped or something? Hinata saw Souda's awkwardness towards his dog and sighed, “Sorry, she gets happy around people. Like, way too hyper. She acts like shes on crack or something...”

Souda gave in and knelt down to pick her up. “Damn, but she is cute as hell. My god, she’s super happy, you must give her lots of love.”

Hinata rolled his eyes, “She’s fat though, I think we need to put her on a diet.”

Souda made a face in agreement and put Hope down. “Alright, so where is the room. Is this it?” Souda grabbed the handle of a random door at the end of the hallway.

Hinata put his hand over Souda's and slammed the door. “No. That’s my room.”

“Why can’t I go in? C’mon, we used to be roommates at Hope’s Peak. I’ve seen _everything_.”

“...” Hinata just looked back at Souda.

“What the hell man? Is it like a sex dungeon in there or something? Do you have Komaeda in a cage naked?”

Hinata walked away. 

“What? Is it? Is he in a cage naked?” Souda's eyes lit up.

Hinata looked at Souda like he lost his mind. “No. Why do you want to see my room so bad? And why are you smiling so damn hard?”

“I-” Souda started blushing, “Hey it’s not like that, c’mon Bro! Ugh...”

“Why are you getting embarrassed? I’m the one who should be. You just tried to barge into my room.”

“I didn’t know it was your room! Plus you made it super suspicious with no reaction...”

"Do you have weird fetishes or something?" Souda spluttered. Hinata shook his head, “Anyways, this is your room over here," he pointed inside. It was a decent sized room with a closet. "Across from it is my office. Next to my office is a bathroom, and at the very end of the hallway is my bedroom to your right." Hinata looked at Souda. "But you can't go in there." Souda cowered. He could've sworn he saw Hinata's eyes flash red. "The kitchen and living room are obvious...uh...that’s it I think?” Hinata paused putting a hand on his hip. “Oh, and we cook a lot so don’t worry about food. And uh, this is the linen closet.” he opened a door next to the bathroom, further towards the kitchen and living room.

Souda nodded. “Okay...I never cook, Leon's cooking is shitty. So we always buy takeout.” 

“I get scolded at for eating takeout.”

“Jesus, that must be harsh.”

Hinata shrugged, “Well you know...it has its perks. I was raised that way so its easy to adapt to. Dessert most of the time is bought though. He cares so much about intake because of his strict diet so I barely get to benefit from that.”

“Oh god, is he a gluten nazi? Oh wait, that's right I forgot, he models...”

Right then, Komaeda came bursting down the front door in timely fashion, humming the psycho theme. Hope ran down the hallway, or more waddled towards her owner. The two men could hear bags rustling from down the hallway and Komaeda cooing at the dog like a baby.

“Hey, you’re back.” Hinata came out of the hallway with Souda in tow.

“Yep. Traffic was heavy, everyone is shopping since its near that time of year...” he grunted as he took off his knee high boots with one hand, balancing a crepe in the other.

“Did you get sidetracked again? I see you have a crepe with you...” Hinata went to grab for the crepe from Komaeda’s hand, but he snatched it away from his boyfriend.

“Huh? No I didn’t, I got some sweets in the bag hungry hungry.” Komaeda lifted the bags up with one arm and shook them. Souda’s face lit up. “I won’t eat any but I’m sure our roomie will appreciate it.” he walked over to the kitchen and unpacked everything with one hand. Souda hasn’t seen someone buy so many vegetables and fruit in his life, he’s sure he’s moved in with vegetarians. God, this was going to be rough, it was polar opposite from what he’s used to. Greasy hamburgers, but when he saw the sweets and petites in boxes, he suddenly got really excited. 

“I actually was trying to help you out before you dropped something and make a mess.” Hinata quipped grabbing the box of petites. “But I guess you don’t need help, I’ll just eat this box by myself.”

Komaeda continued putting things up instead of entertaining Hinata’s antics.

Souda was salivating over the apple jelly and about to attack Hinata to get the petite sweets. 

Hope was rubbing against everyone's ankles, jumping up and down. 

At the blink of an eye, Hinata already opened the box and was fighting a wild Souda off with one arm and his back. 

“Souda, chill, you’re going to make me drop all of them!”

“There is no way in hell you’re eating all those by yourself! Where’s your hospitality? Rah!”

"Ow! Did you just bite me?!"

Komaeda sweatdropped, “Calm down guys, you have to eat dinner before dessert anyways, so put the sweets down. I don’t want anyone getting a stomachache.”

“What? You’re eating a crepe!”

“That’s because I went shopping! I need a treat. Hajime when have you become such a kid?” Just then, Souda took advantage of that opportunity to elbow Hinata in the stomach and grab the box. 

Hope barked, getting in on the hype.

Souda crawled away with the beat up box victorious. But before he could even celebrate for wrestling Hinata, being the lankier one, Komaeda somehow snatched it from his hands like a ninja. 

 

Later on after a very vegetarian dinner (which Souda was so not used to), when they were enjoying dessert on the couch sharing a blanket instead of fighting over it. Souda had received a text from Gundam, asking if he was okay. 

_‘yea. i’m fine. i’m not livin w/ Leon anymore,well for now.’_

_‘What happened?’_

_‘we got into a argument. i didn’t like what he said about us.’_

_‘Oh? What did he say?’_

_‘he thought we aren’t good for eachother...gave me hell for lettin u stay over. i just think hes jealous.’_

_‘Most likely. It was smart to distance yourself from that.’_

_‘yea, i cant live with that negativity.’  
_

“Souda, you’ve been on your phone for half the show, what’s up?”

Souda was on the farthest right of the couch next to Komaeda who was in the center, while Hinata was on the left with Hope. One thing Souda has taken from spending this afternoon with Komaeda is that he’s observant and doesn’t let anything fly under his nose. Hell, Souda’s pretty sure Komaeda saw some of his texts. 

Souda checked his phone for any more texts from Gundam. He saw none so he pocketed it. “Its Gundam.”

“Oh. How is he? Last time I saw him was when I had a check up for Hope.”

“He's alright. I just explained everything to him. Well, not to its entirety but most of it, as much as I could over text.” 

“He’s not pissed?”

“I don’t know. He’s not cursing or anything. He just mentioned it was smart for me to not stick around.”

“I bet he’s frowning at his phone, he’s really caring and protective.”

“Yeah he is...”

“Are you going to see him soon? If you want to bring him here you can.” 

Souda looked at the T.V. for a second, the credits finally ended. “Nah, it’s cool, I’ll probably seem him on the weekend...not during work hours though, I’d hate to trouble him then.”

Komaeda sighed, “I’m sorry you have to deal with this, especially during a trying time. People just like to kick you when you’re down. You can not even grasp the goodness of life, the everlasting hope before despair tries to clasp its choking hands around your neck.” Souda’s eyes were wide. Fuck, Komaeda was on a roll now. “But through the despair, you will find your hope and your happiness and love with Gundam.”

“Yeah, exactly.” Souda had no idea what to say to that crazy fucking rant Komaeda just created out of nowhere. But in some odd way Souda got what he was saying. Through his insane eyes and extensive way of explanation, there was logic. “I never knew you were so insightful.”

Komaeda smiled. “I know a few things about the struggle.” he took a bite out of his apple jelly. He completely betrayed his statement earlier about not eating any sweets. “You're in good company.”

Souda turned towards the T.V. Yeah, Komaeda was right, and Gundam too. It was good for him to take a break from Leon. He knows Leon is a good person and means no actual harm, but emotionally he goes crazy and is a control freak. For someone finding their way through life, a control freak is the wrong person to be around. And that has been acknowledged and validated by many.

He leaned back onto the couch and sighed. Living with Komaeda and Hinata has been quite a change, he could tell from this afternoon. But it was a good change. He would worry about what was going to happen with his living situation after this month, worrying too much about it now would just stress him out and make him out of whack with the little sound logic he has. 

“Wow, that episode was good.” Komaeda scrolled through Netflix with a big grin on his face.

“I can’t believe he fucked a pig.” Hinata gagged. “I wouldn’t save a princess for that.”

“Wait, who? The guy fucked a pig?”

“Souda, you missed it! It was so cruel. Apparently, it lasted over an hour...”

“Ew, who the fuck would do that for an hour, that’s disgusting!”

“He did not get off on it, that’s for sure.” Hinata mumbled.

“They didn’t show anything. Just his face cringing and sweating.” Komaeda went into details Souda would rather not know about. 

“I’m sure they didn’t, that would be fucking awful!”

Komaeda turned around to face the brunette. “Would you do that Hinata-kun? Would you fuck a pig?” 

“No. I wouldn’t. Fuck that. You?”

“Depends how much hope the side has--”

“--Oh my god, your boyfriend would fuck a pig!” Souda shouted exasperated, not skipping a beat.

“Depends who the hope is within!” Komaeda defended. 

“The pig or the government? How can a pig have hope?”

“No!”

“That’s horrible I can’t believe you would even consider doing that.”

“Hinata-kun please! You are jumping to conclusions!”

Souda started laughing at the two. 

But seriously, that episode was fucked up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY. It's out. And over 1000...NO 1200 VIEWS. WHAT?!  
> AND 50 KUDOS?  
> I love you guys *hugs*  
> I know to some it's not a big deal, but for me it is a big deal. *splutters*
> 
> This is a belated Christmas/new years present for all of you guys! And birthday if its within that time span! Happy whatever! How are you doing? Great? Good. If not, I hope my fanfic cheers you up, I spent time developing this for you guys. Entering the new year with a new chapter. (:
> 
> I loved writing this chapter because it starts off finishing a cliffhanger and leaves with a satisfied Souda watching Black Mirror with dessert (the show mentioned at the end with the pig).
> 
> Now, Souda and Leon's friendship reaches that moment. When the more introverted one gets a mate. Leon's jealousy and concern starts to grow. 
> 
> Gundam is very protective over Souda. I'm surprised he didn't jump out the window and run over to beat down Leon again. 
> 
> Hinata is a true soul brother.
> 
> Komaeda is crazy, but uplifting a depressed Souda. We all need someone like that in our life, don't we? (I wish someone like Komaeda was around /sniffles)
> 
> Hagakure actually appeared and talked after Mukuro freaking Falcon Punched the back of his head!
> 
> And Hope is adorable. Now they just need a dog with the name Despair. c:
> 
> And I know vegeterians are brought up a lot, but everyone around him are health enthusiasts and crap. I see Souda as a carnivore. But no hate on vegetarians! I'm one myself! So BLAH.
> 
> And sorry if this note is horrible, I'm trying my best and a little distracted by whats going on around me. But I love you all, I wish you guys a great happy new year wherever you are.


	9. in the midst of it all

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a sharp turn of events;  
> things aren't what they seem and Souda learns that lesson the hard way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDATE 7/30/2016
> 
> I AM WORKING ON CHAPTER 10 NEW CHAPTER COMING OUT SOMETIME IN JULY BABIES!!

**in the midst of it all**

**;**

 

Souda laid wide awake in the spare bedroom all night. 

Ever since he laid down, he’s been listening to the typical inner city life noises. Late night sirens from the city streets, drunk people shouting down the block, dogs barking, and the revving engines from illegal street races. These sounds have the potential of being annoying. But, Souda is used to urban living so actually they aren’t anything too disturbingly loud to deter him from sleep.

Might sound off, but that would be great for the noise to be the cause of his troubled sleeping, it isn’t. Souda is just supremely restless tonight. So restless, closing his eyes isn't even possible. His eyelids just flutter back open as if he is trying to stay awake during a horrible movie or a boring late night phone conversation. 

Usually, Souda is the quickest to fall asleep after an exhausting day. His mind (most of the time) will let him at least get some rest even if he’s tormented by night terrors. Key Term: at least. 

However tonight, he had the hardest time sleeping, probably the hardest he’s ever had besides that time Leon was in the hospital. 

He feels tired to the point of straight up exhaustion, but his mind is telling him he is not. His brain keeps working overtime on issues that he knows cannot be solved over one night. And on top of all this anxiety, he has a morning commute that he’s going to have to figure out and a full day dedicated to one clients expensive ass vintage garage.

However, despite everything he’s going through, he should be sleeping soundly right now. At the very least 2 to 3 hours. He should be relieved that he’s finally getting a breath of fresh air from that clusterfuck at home. 

But no, instead, he’s wide awake. Staring up at the ceiling above him, seeing illusions in the dark abyss that is actually a normal ceiling with modern light fixtures. Souda keeps trying to close his eyes for the umpteenth time, but something keeps pulling them open again just for him to stare up.

After what felt like an eternity of this struggle, unknowing of the current time. Souda whined loudly, flopping aggressively, kicking the sheets on the tempurpedic bed. “Dammit. Why are the ceilings so high in this place?”. 

He turned over on his side, then to the other until he finally rested into a fetal position. This was his attempt to get rid of this ‘extra’ energy and close his eyes. But he just couldn’t. He needed a distraction that yet had the power to calm his mind. Too mindless to even try and think of such a thing. He ended up going back to his starfish pose, eyes upwards, unconsciously mumbling nonsense to himself. 

…

…

“Hey…”

“AAH! Shit-fucker!”

Souda almost had a heart attack when he heard Hinata’s voice come from the doorway. He shot up so fast in the bed with such a high pitch prepubescent shriek, Hinata actually covered his ears and hit his back on the door. Souda might’ve woke up half the damn neighborhood.

The scared man went to grab his chest whereas Hinata’s eyes grew big. “The fuck was that all about? Are you possessed?”

“NO! Asshole! You just scared the shit out of me! What the hell are you doing in here?!”

“You scared me! What was up with that scream? Were you jerkin’ off in here?”

“NO! What the fuck?” Souda exhaled heavily letting go of the thumping beat against his chest. “The real questions is why the hell did you sneak in here? Were you trying to kill me or somethin’? Huh? And what was that ‘Hey’ shit about?”

“No. Why would I do that?” Hinata furrowed his brows like that was the oddest question, which it was. He shook his head tiredly and jutted his hip out. “I just walked by, I saw the door open and heard you mumbling.. I was curious so then I walked in and you were wide awake staring up...did you realize you were talking to yourself in tongue?”

“...No…I didn’t...”

“...Oh, shit, you might really be possessed then...”

Souda grabbed his head, “Dude, don’t say that! And I wasn’t speaking tongue I was probably just...mumbling nonsense...”

“Are you sure that wasn’t the language of the Gods that Gundam supposedly taught you?” Hinata snickered. If Souda had the ability to, he would’ve glared lasers through Hinata’s apple shaped head. But he is not cyclops from X-Men so that was impossible. 

Anyways, the brunette tiredly sat down on the edge of the bed and just chuckled at his friends pouting face. “It was a joke. Lighten up a bit.” 

“Its too late at night for you to be acting like a dick. You need to take your spikey ass back to bed! First of all, you shouldn’t have been creepin’ up in here like that! Ever heard of hospitality?”

“I get it, I’m sorry...just chill a bit, you’re getting really loud. I’m sure our neighbors are trying to sleep. And how the hell can I have a spiky ass?”

The pink haired man rolled his eyes,“Doesn’t matter!”

“Hey, you’re really hysterical right now. Earlier you were fine and laughing... beating me up over a damn box of desserts...” Hinata furrowed his brows, his expression changing drastically. “I get that I scared you, but what’s really up? Were you you know-” Hinata made a hand motion. Souda’s face lit up.

“Will you stop with that? I said I wasn’t!” Souda whined, pushing his friend away. “You just startled me is all...jeez…”. he actually managed to mellow out and give a response, that wasn’t a ear splitting screech or scream.

Hinata let the silence linger for a second, then…

“You’re now starting to talk in your sleep without realizing that you are...it can become a bigger deal...” he trailed off making a point. “I mean Souda, you sound sick...like…” Hinata pointed to his own head. ‘Is he calling me mental?!’ Souda thought.

“No, I’m fine _mom_ people do that all the time,” Souda sighed momentarily deflating like a balloon. Hinata shook his head like ‘Bullshit. Not true.’ Okay, maybe it would be relatively normal if Souda didn’t have this long list of weird shit above ‘talking in sleep’. 

“...Sometimes I think you’re a masochist, you just like to torment yourself don’t you?”

Souda immediately looked at Hinata even though he only appeared as a dark shadow. At first, he didn’t really have anything to say in response, he just looked at him like ‘what the hell is that supposed to mean mah boi?’. 

He actually heard Hinata’s remark as a roundabout way of being called many things. Like stupid, being stubborn or into some freaky shit past nine o’ clock. However, Hinata was actually addressing the capricious attitude he projects into his life alongside the emotional and physical recklessness. 

But thats too deep and detailed for this time in night and Souda kinda just gloated over the question. “No. I’m not a masochist. What makes you think that?” 

Hinata wasn’t trying to force his opinion, but there was an underlining in his question like statement. Which was more disturbing than him actually just saying it. Almost like it’s a question Souda should ask himself, is he really a masochist? And what does that exactly mean?

Souda has always been a glutton for punishment but there is a difference if it keeps reoccurring. And this has nothing to do with bad luck, it’s called bad decisions I.E. yolo.

Things have gotten to the point where Souda doesn’t even have control over his own brain anymore. Which is bizarre to him. No one could’ve told him that this would be his problem over a year ago. The issue may be much more than what he actually thinks it is. There’s enough proof and leadway, but Souda just goes the wrong way.

Souda’s wondering what the fuck happened to himself.

“I’m fine, don’t worry...” He said it more to convince himself than to reassure Hinata.

The brunette shook his head. “Alright, but if you start sleepwalking or passing out randomly, I’m going to force you to go to the doctor’s office...I cannot have you running around like that, it’s too dangerous...”

“…I’m fine...I just need sleep...” Souda grumbled in response looking to his side. Hinata would not let it go.

“..Ignoring things and hoping they disappear is impossible. Those problems get worse when neglected.” Hinata said all proudly, “You told me that sometime ago...”

Souda mouthed, ‘oh my fucking god are you going to leave me alone?’ to himself before he responded. “Wait, what? How the hell you still remember that? Ew. I was going through a weird phase then….” 

Hinata smiled, “I don’t know, kind of just stuck with me...” Souda grumbled to himself a response.. The brunette tiredly snorted. “Heh…but even though that was a ‘phase’, I hope you still stick with that philosophy. It's actually the only thing I learned from you.” Souda made a face. ‘What the fuck?’ “...I’m joking...” Hinata mockingly said as he got up from the dip in the bed. 

Souda folded his arms.

The brunette yawned. “Sorry about cutting this short...I would talk more but I have to be up in 2 more hours and I have yet to get any sleep...but I’ll see you in the afternoon or evening. Try not to spin your head three-sixty or whatever…kay?”

“...I’ll try not to.” Souda flopped back on the pillows with a silent thud.

“Night…” 

“Night bro--wait, can you close the door--”

Hinata walked out the room and didn’t close the door. 

That actually pissed Souda off. Nothing more annoying than having a bedroom door ajar when you want it closed. He huffed, puffed and cursed under his breath as he got up from his warm bed and closed the door. When he got back into the bed, it was still cracked open. Wondering what the hell happened, hoping a ghost isn’t in the apartment. He looked over the side of the bed and saw Hope. Boom, there was the answer. She ran in right before the door closed, the door bounced off her body instead of closing. 

Souda sighed, oh well. Just another pillow on his bed.

**-x-**

It was Monday and Souda got lost going to work from his new location. He usually has great sense of direction, but that was not the case today.

When he did finally get familiar with his location and route after minutes of discombobulation, he realized it was a hop, skip and a jump. So him stressing over this last night was a waste of time really.

During his walk to work however, he got a call. He had an inkling that this person would call. Now, it was a matter of if he was actually going to answer said call. 

He pressed ‘ignore’.

“Not now Leon.” he mumbled to himself.

**-x-**

“The show is really good, you should watch it.”

“I do not watch television much.” Gundam replied as he casually gobbled up his vegetable ramen.

**Bzzt. Bzzt.**

Souda aggressively hit the ignore button on his phone as he kept talking. “I know, but you have to see this one episode. I’m not sure if you’d like hearing this while you're eating, but, in this episode, the guy screwed a pig and it was broadcasted live on every screen.”

Gundam grunted as he spat the chewed up remains of his ramen into a napkin. Souda started laughing hysterically as the ravenette coughed up the food. Fucked up he’s laughing when his boyfriend is basically choking/vomiting in front of him. People around them were staring at them like ‘what the fuck? Is he okay?’.

“Augh!” Gundam coughed, “That is vile! Why would I want to watch something with that content?” he was writhing just from the thought. 

“Haha, I know isn’t that sick? But he had to do it to save a princess!”

“Why is there amusement in your eyes? Did you enjoy that?”

“Maybe…” Souda mumbled. 

Gundam made a look of utter disgust.

“No! I’m just kidding!” Souda chuckled. Gundam curled his upper lip. “Gundam don’t make that face. I’m jokin’!” despite his words, he continued laughing at the disturbed man. “Your reaction is freaking priceless! You literally spat out your food and your face is so twisted up right now! Ah, you should see your face. You look like a seal.”

Gundam gave Souda a look like ‘bitch, I was choking how is that remotely funny?’. “Thank you, I have now lost my appetite.” he shuddered violently balling up the napkin he practically threw up in. The waitress came by and gave him fresh tea after asking if he was okay. He nodded, “Mm, thank you.” 

**Bzzt. Bzzt.**

Even when she walked away, Souda was still laughing hysterically like he was being tickled. “I’m sorry, I just thought you would appreciate that.” 

Gundam shook his head, another look of him utterly in disgust. “And people watch this for entertainment?”

**Bzzt. Bzzt.**

“Yeah. And guess what? Komaeda said he’d totally do that to save the princess.”

Gundam shook his head as he picked over his ramen no longer having an appetite, “Of course he would.”

“Would you?”

“Fuck no.” Gundam said without missing a beat. Souda busted out laughing. Everytime Gundam cursed it sounded funny to him, hence, he barely hears Gundam cuss.

**Bzzt. Bzzt.**

Souda puckered his lips making it obvious that his phone was becoming a problem. 

**Bzzt. Bzzt.**

“Is that your phone buzzing?” Gundam finally asked, he’s heard it buzzing for the past twenty minutes but hasn’t said anything till now.

Souda, hesitantly, picked up his phone and rolled his eyes. “Yeah...” Even over the constant laughing, teasing, at this point in time it was getting really hard not to ignore the constant buzzing of his phone. Souda looked down at the screen and sighed. “Ugh, fuck man. I’m trying to have lunch. And this stupid thing keeps going off.”

“Who is it?”

“Who do you think? Mr. Micromanage himself.” Souda silenced his phone once more for emphasis.

Gundam narrowed his eyes significantly as he sipped his hot tea.

“You know, it’s really hard to ignore someone when they keep bothering you. It’s like when you have a spider bite that hurts on your cheek.” Gundam furrowed his brows as Souda picked up his phone and scrolled through his missed calls list. “Leon called 6 fucking times today…and it’s only lunch time. Halfway through the day. I can’t tell if he’s generally worried or he’s just really trying to be a pain in the ass.”

“He won’t stop bothering you if you don’t answer.” 

Wait a second. Was Gundam siding with Leon? What the hell? “But…but I don’t want to give in to the pestering. Maybe he’ll get the hint after x amount of failed attempts?” Souda thought out loud. 

Gundam begged to differ but ultimately was trying everything in his mental power to not think about the pig fucking. 

Souda looked out into the restaurant thinking. Okay, maybe Leon was worried, but he can’t help that 50% of that is just him being nosy. But the whole point of this is because he’s supposed to be taking a break away from him, not being harassed by his calls. This is a little counterproductive to him. 

“I’m just going to turn my phone off.” he said picking up the device.

Gundam clicked his tongue, “You’re not going to find closure that way.”

“But he needs to heed my advice. I mean how hard is it to listen? I sat this close to his face, “ Souda motioned with his hand how close Leon was to his face, “And I told him to give me my space.. Well, kinda. I may have not worded it that nicely, but that is what I was trying...to say...” 

“You didn’t tell him you left did you? Leave a note or anything of that nature?”

Souda hesitated sucking air through his teeth. “...Uh...no…? Is that bad?”

“There’s your answer...for all he knows, you could be missing.”

“But Hinata and Komaeda--”

“--Aren’t in contact with his social circle, so that’s not a reliable excuse.”

Souda sighed, putting down his phone and propping an elbow onto the table. “...Yeah, you’ve got a point...but he’s not my parent...he’s micromanaging from across fucking Tokyo.”

“Though I don’t agree with his method of ‘friendship’.” Souda snorted, Gundam continued, “I don’t want your situation to get worse...and I think ignoring Leon is not doing anything but helping it worsen. With that being said, you should at least send him a message to confirm you are okay if you’re so adverse to talking to him.” Gundam stopped, “He cares.”

The pink haired man groaned, “...Goddammit…” he stared at the rectangular box on the table. “Can you stop being right?” Souda picked his phone back up and kept sighing out loud. “Okay, I’ll just do this…” he shot a quick text, then he dropped his phone down on the table and put his hands up, “There, I sent a message. I sent, ‘Stop blowing up my phone. Thanks’”

Gundam lidded his eyes over his cup of tea, “Souda…really?.”

“What?! At least he knows I’m okay! Fuck, I could’ve said nothing!” 

Gundam shook his head with his barely existent eyebrows raised. “I guess that's better than nothing.” 

“Shut up, I tried!” Souda lightly kicked Gundam under the table. He regretted that because one of the big ass buckles on the animal breeder’s goth knee high boots stung his big toe through his converse. Souda winced curling his toes, Gundam looked like he didn’t even feel it. He continued, “You make me seem like I’m such a handful.”

“That’s because you are.” 

“What?!” Souda exclaimed, “I am not.” Gundam gave him a look then proceeded to drink his tea. “Okay, just for that comment and look you’re paying for all of lunch today.”

Gundam choked on his drink, “Urk. What?” 

“Excuse me!” Souda ordered another bowl of cha shu ramen with pork cutlets and a large bottle of sake. 

The waitress must’ve heard what Souda said about paying and she gave the surprised Gundam a sympathetic look as she walked away.

**-x-**

Souda admittedly felt a lot better after talking to Gundam.

And it wasn’t because he bought his lunch and his stomach is filled with delicious food.

Pfft, of course not.

Reason. For such an introvert, he’s an emotionally reliable guy. Every time he calls or messages him, Gundam gives Souda an honest input with a thoughtful explanation. The animal breeder ironically has a sense of mortality and human rights in every thing which makes Souda feel like Gundam is too good for him. Gundam is the complete opposite of him when it comes to being emotionally reliable and explanations for every course of action of input. But as they say, opposites attract in some shape or form. 

He finds it ridiculous that Leon would find Gundam so intolerable to be around.

Speaking of Leon, the mother fucker didn’t text Souda back at all the remainder of the day. He was kinda glad yet at the same time he was worried now. These thoughts however are the exact reason why he didn’t want to text him. He’d rather be on the ignoring end and keep the communication with the guy cut off then pondering whenever the hell he’ll get a response. Gives him less of a guilt trip.

When he got ‘home’, aka Hinata and Komaeda’s apartment, he used the spare key on the building that Hinata gave him and took the elevator up. Upon opening the front door he was greeted by Hope, who was jumping up and down barking.

“Hey Hope, how ya doin’ girl?” The fat corgi barked happily and ran in circles.

He’s not used to having a dog jumping up at his knees and trailing him throughout every room. Not that he’s complaining, sometimes Hope is just glued to his feet like a cute, fat, fluffy wart. She probably senses something is bothering Souda and is doing her utmost to cheer him up. 

If only the majority of his _associates_ were that way.

Anyways...

Every electronic inside their home was off, and the place was spotless and smelled like wood cleaner and all purpose clean solution. Some OCD freak just wiped every single corner of the rooms down with every disinfectant product in the storage. 

He can only assume it was Komaeda.

Checking his perimeters, Souda looked in the kitchen then the living room, looking for the emaciated man or fat dog. “Anybody home?” he called.

He’s not sure what Komaeda does during the day as well as how the whole modelling career exactly works. What his schedule is or whatever photoshoots he has booked, not that it’s really much of his business anyways. But he’d rather not get scared when a marshmallow fluff unexpectedly emerges in the corner of his eye in a quiet ass apartment with spooky ass gargoyle looking statues.

Komaeda still creeps him out to this day.

Nobody answered his callings. Taking that in consideration, he shrugged and assumed no one was home. So, he washed up and changed into fresh clothes, then he tried entering Hinata’s room since he wasn’t home, curious from his first day there as to what the hell is in there. But of course the door was locked. 

Goddammit. 

Hinata and Komaeda know him too well.

So, after operation ‘snoop Ko and Hina’s room’ failed, he retreated to his room too tired to even eat, or let alone keep his eyes open. So, he went to sleep.

 

****

-x-

There was something Souda has gotten used to but never really has if that makes sense.

Living with couples.

Or hyperactive nymphomaniacs.

He thought that he’d had experienced it all whenever Leon the nymphomaniac and whoever the hell he brought home whether that was Ibuki, Junko or Sayaka. Any of those three were fucking horrible. Thanks to the combination of Leon’s persistence to yodel every fucking thrust and the paper thin walls of their shitty apartment. 

Sometimes, he’d hear the occasional male voices singing from the other side of the hallway. One of Leon’s male conquests was Yasuke Matsuda, the Super High School Level Neurologist. Messy black hair, bright blue eyes, dressed like Hagakure but was like a thousand times smarter than him. Hah.

The intelligent male who has cured neuro diseases. Okay. Sounds like he’s impressive but the guy did not know how to fucking sneak out of Leon’s room. He always tried to duck out of the apartment before Souda woke up, but the pink haired man always caught him doing his walk of shame. Hair a mess, in a jacket that didn’t belong to him and with a limp..He’d play off when he was caught by making coffee or some shit but Souda knew damn well what he was doing or what he FINISHED doing . 

Souda would confront the former baseball star about his interest in the same sex after every single night he’d been caught red handed but he’d deny it every time though he’d see a male shadow tip toeing in his peripheral vision. 

However, Leon had so many friends with benefits. And Souda would hear things he wish he never would hear.

Despite it all though, Souda has never been THIS embarrassed though. 

This is payback for trying to go in their room earlier. 

It was close to midnight when all of the sudden he heard an erupted chorus of a bed slamming hard into the wall and a loud strangled moan. Souda doubted his thoughts, like no way Jose no fucking way. Someone is blasting porn or something. But the minute he heard the loud chorus of moans and a familiar name being strangled out, Souda just wanted to fucking kill himself.

Never did he think he’d listen to Komaeda and Hinata having sex. EVER.

He did not want his second night here to be him awoken by his two friends going ham in the other room. This is when noise cancelling headphones become handy, or better yet a fucking gun. But of course he doesn’t own either to take him out this misery. 

So Souda is forced to listen to this SHIT. Komaeda getting the living shit banged out of him. 

Words cannot express how pissed off Souda is. This puts the icing on the cake. He just HOPES he can get some shut eye in at some point. 

“Ooooh~ Hajime~! Fuuccckk-ah~”

Face red as a damn beet, Souda burrowed his head into the blankets, sobbing out loud to himself. This has to be the loudest sex he’s heard in his life. He feels like he’s getting fucked listening to this.

Rest in peace.

 

****

-x-

Next day...Souda literally rolled out of bed. And hit his head on the wood floorboards. Words cannot express how shitty he feels.

If he could, he would stay indoors, he’s frugal enough to be able to afford to do that. Hell, he’s wearing the same damn beanie from High School. Okay, that’s grody, not frugal, but you get the point. The guy doesn’t spend money on pointless crap.

Unfortunately, in this day and age in a society that a decent living is made from capitalism. Being frugal doesn’t exactly keep the money flowing in. He has a business (which is such a remarkable achievement at his age), and a long list of clients to tend to. People send their car in for it to get fixed, not collect dust in the garage and rust up or something. That’s poor customer service, and that's about 95% of his business, so, he has to bite the bullet and go into work.

Its part of being a responsible adult.

His phone is currently at 20%, damn near dead because in the middle of the early morning he had his finger hovering over Gundam’s name. Somehow Souda psyched himself into being a co-dependent boyfriend who bothers people at the asscrack of dawn. But fortunately yet unfortunately, he never called him. Instead, he stayed up just simply existing and listening to his friends fuck next door. 

Now he’s dealing with the consequences of not getting any sleep or relief. 

His “eye bags” feel like they are sagging on his cheekbones, it's hard for him to hold his neck upright, his limbs feel like they are pulling ball and chains, and his head feels like someone shook it, then drained it out like a coconut. 

He eventually got himself somewhat together a bit later than he would desire. 

He showered, cleaned up, got dressed, grabbed his usual crap including his charger so his phone doesn’t completely run out on him midday. And was semi-ready to face the day. 

On his way to the door though, he almost had a fucking heart attack when Komaeda came out the corridor. Souda gasped loudly and made a face resembling a frog.

“Oh, good morning Kazuichi-- uh...are you fine? Did I scare you?”

“Yeah!”

Komaeda lightly scoffed, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to spook you! I just got back from getting coffee...how untimely of me to walk in…”

“No- I shouldn’t be so jumpy, but shit..” He said despite he still felt his heart beating hard against his chest. Catching his breath he continued to leave. “I’m still getting used to this I guess, kinda odd waking up here in peace and starting my day.” Especially after a few years of getting used to Leon singing to punk rock loud and Ibuki or some other floozie running around the place naked. This is a different pace of living. Much quieter, (except last night, jesus christ) yet there’s something a little chaotic about this setting as well. 

“I’d imagine so.” Komaeda blinked.

Sometimes, Souda felt awkward talking to Komaeda because he is unpredictable. He smiled anyways, “Uhhh, did Hinata leave already?”

“Yeah, he did.” Komaeda limped around the living room more.

Souda bugged his eyes, smile wiped off his face. He couldn’t help but think of last night’s loud noises. Shivers went up his spine as he watched the model limp around the apartment. “Ohh,” he awkwardly responded, hopping into his shoes. 

Souda grabbed his work bag. Sort of just going along with things for the sake of time, racking his brain if he forgot anything. At the same time he was shocked by Komaeda acting so nonchalant. He had to know that he was noisy as fuck last night. He sounded hella unaware.

“Are you trying to remember if you forgot something?” the man asked. Nah man, Souda should be asking you that. Have you forgotten last night Komaeda? No apologies?!

He responded, “Uh yeah, but I don’t think I did…” Souda dug himself out of his thoughts and actually checked his jumpsuit pockets. “Maybe my brain, probably still on the pillow…” he patted his head and realized he was rocking some amazing accidental visual kei hairstyle. Whatever. He’ll just grab his beanie.

Komaeda made another look at him before turning around. “Alright, well coffee is hot by the way. I’ll see you later.” He walked away and went to do some painful looking stretches in the living room.

Meanwhile, Souda was trying to remember if he left anything important behind. After standing in place for 5 minutes due to a brainfart, he finally walked out the door.

He forgot his beanie.

 

****

-x-

Same day, later on near 6 P.M. Souda was actually relieved to get back home in one emotional piece. Hopefully he wouldn't have to listen to his two friends boning tonight.

Despite last night occurrences and the awkward atmosphere this morning. Coming home to a quiet and tranquil atmosphere, with nobody around to deter his mood quite yet. He was in the mood to actually get some sleep, well more like he had no choice because he was so damn tired. 

Though he felt like he had to do something but he couldn’t recall it.

Giving up on whatever he felt like he needed to do, he face planted into the bed and drifted off to sleep after taking a shower.

Minutes later, he woke up to his ringtone blasting.

Out of all things his ringtone wakes him up. He rolled off the bed, over to the other side of the room and picked up his phone trying to read the name.

“The fuck?” he said out loud before answering.

“Hello?! SOUDA.”

“Mondo...what?”

“WHERE ARE YOU?”

“Huh?.”

“YOU FUCKING DISAPPEARED.”

“Oh my god Mondo, I’m okay.”

“WHAT!. I visited Leon today and you weren’t there!”

“I just, I’m staying at a friends place for a lil bit, I’m fine though.”

“DID LEON KICK YOU OUT?!”

“Mondo, you’re really loud. Holy shit, you’re not even on speaker phone and I can hear your spit hitting the speaker.”

“SHIT. I’m SORRY...did he kick you out?!”

Mondo tried, but he kept fucking yelling. Souda didn’t know if he was going deaf and had no sense of his speaking level or he just can’t fucking talk normally at a normal tone like Kiyotaka.

Souda sighed, “No. He didn’t. I just...ran away? I left without a word.”

“Oh? I thought he kicked you out.”

“When did you visit?”

“Today man.”

“He didn’t say anything?”

“He did. He just said he didn’t know where you went. My mind was going every direction, so I thought he kicked you out. But man, the fuck you think you doin’? Runnin’ away like that?! Got us all worried and shit!”

‘Sorry. I know realized I panicked. I felt pressured to just do something...”

“So you ran out the door?” Mondo persisted. Souda sighed mentally. Fuck man. “You don’t usually do shit like that.”

“I talked to Hagakure and then something snapped and I just decided to run?”

“What? Did that dumbass tell you to move out?!”

Souda face palmed himself. “No. I mean...no? Not really? He alluded to it. I kinda sought out his advice for these nightmares, and he said something along the lines that the symbolizations in my dreams were pointing to cutting someone out my life.”

“The...FUCK?! That mother fucker is dumb, he can’t even hold his own dick to piss. I would never take his advice. He was baked and made some shit up Souda. C’mon man, you know better than to listen to that guy!”

Souda was so glad he was talking over the phone then in person. Because Mondo probably made the most ridiculous face upon hearing that. Which would make him more embarrassed. 

However, he did and still believes what Hagakure said. It's not complete bullshit.

“Man, how long have you known Leon?”

“Years.”

“Exactly. You know how he gets man...”

“I know but…the timing, it was just enough was enough”

“But what?”

“He has something against Gundam...and it just doesn’t make sense. He’s really adamant about not having him around. He hates every bit of his fiber.”

“I don’t think that’s true…”

“How do you know Mondo.”

“Leon can’t hate anybody, thats just not something he can do. I don’t know how to word this, but he doesn’t have the personality to actually HATE someone...if he’s dating someone as fucked up as Junko then he really can’t hate Gundam man...”

“Then what is it?”

“Ask him yourself, shit.”

“No.”

“Talk to him man!”

“....fine....” Souda sighed rubbing his temples. This was going to end great.

 

****

-x-

“Yo Souda, you in there?”

Souda opened his eyes slowly. Instantaneously awoken by the familiar voice coming from the other side of the metallic door. Was that Leon? What the hell? Why did he want to talk at this time of night? 

Reluctant to even reply, Souda groggily sat up on his bed and rubbed his eyes, removing his hands from his eyes to see his black eyeliner smudged like he just cried in his pillow. Oh wait, he did.

Another series of knocks erupted.

“Yo?! You ignoring me dude?” it faintly heard from the other side. It was amazing Leon’s voice carried over.

“Mmm...no.” To be honest Souda was a little hesitant even answering to that, given the fact that he’s very wary around his classmates around this time of night. Especially when there’s a potential that you could wound up dead. But Souda could trust Leon, he was his best friend. And if he were to try anything, Souda felt he would be able to fight the guy off and get away. Also they made it clear at the breakfast that no one would kill anymore. 

Slowly, Souda got up from his bed and opened the door. 

Leon was standing in the bright red corridor, visibly shaking, a mess.

“Leon? What the-what the hell happened to you?”

“...That bear. That demonic ass bear scared the fucking shit outta me. He fucking popped up in my bed with his claws out and shit.Ready to kill. I thought I was a goner. Not only that, but I heard someone trying to break into my dorm while the bear was attacking me..”

“What? Why would it do that? I think it's against the rules for it to interfere with the mutual-” 

“-Fuck the rules Souda, that bear tried to kill me! I know he was going to!”

Souda knew Leon could be more paranoid than himself sometimes. He slightly edged out of the doorway, “...Dude...I don’t know if I want you bringing that crazy shit in my room. I just calmed myself down.”

“Souda! The fuck man?!”

“We’re all shaken up from...her execution, but that doesn’t mean you have to make up stories...just be honest...”

“You’re going to turn your shoulder against me? It's like that huh?”

Pink eyes met with ice blue. No, Leon was actually scared. This was odd. “Alright, fine.” He hopes Leon didn’t become a good actor within the last couple of days being locked up here. Because Souda was damn convinced he was sincerely terrified.

Leon tried to smile but he looks troubled still. “Thanks I owe ya’. I just don’t want to--”

“--I get it, but first I have to do a weapon check.” Souda deadpanned, completely serious. He was not fucking around. If he survived this long, he was going till the end, till they find a way out of this hell hole. Not for Leon to fucking disembowel him in the bathroom. Also Souda would hate to go out and have everyone left wondering what the hell were those two doing in the dorm together that late ANYWAYS. Monokuma would make many dirty jokes with that during the class trial, getting hot and steamy...

…

Yeah.

So, Leon was slightly appalled by Souda’s statement, he even put a hand to his chest. “What?! You don’t trust me? First it was Sayaka now you?”

“No, I want to but Leon, I didn’t evade death just to be killed by my best friend...also you did try to--”

“No, she tried to---ugh...drop it. We know how that case played out.” Leon bit his lip, eyes slightly red “...Fine, I get it. Yeah, you’re right. I’d be suspicious of me too.”

“Okay. Glad we’re at least on the same page.”

So Souda did the weapon check, Leon didn’t have shit on him which was good. Unless the guy tucked something up his butt but Souda...highly doubts that.

Ew.

He’d rather die then check there.

Kidding.

Anyways, the night went by smoothly. Leon was shaken up though, more than usual which made Souda worried. Maybe the motive did get to him? Or he knew something the other didn’t...

...

What if someone was out to get him?

A classmate? Or the mastermind? 

He shouldn’t worry though there was no way anyone would kill anymore, they promised. And this crazy person who locked them in the school should abide by their own rules. 

But, maybe they wouldn’t.

Psychopaths don’t give a flying rat's ass about rules.

Whatever.

Morning came, everyone met up for breakfast. Everyone was there. The last survivors from both classes. A majority of them were killed off. Even though Souda was terrified, he was glad to see his friends, well half of them had made it this far. Better than nobody.

Sonia gave her motivational speech then everyone dispersed. Souda decided to hang out with Hajime for that day since he was all fucked up over Nanami and Komaeda’s death. Then Leon, because there was something seriously wrong with the dude. He was walking around like he knew canonically he shouldn’t have survived this long.

Leon confided in him, told him that he doesn’t want to be left alone. Most his friends are dead except him. But he needs to man the fuck up and keep going. Souda offered his room again but Leon was adamant about keeping his ‘pride’.

Whatever that meant. Souda believes survival should come before pride.

So much to Leon’s ‘pride’ they spent the night away from each other, which Souda couldn’t help but think was a bad idea and the first initial sign before someone gets murdered in a movie. 

But he obliged.

Next day. Half of the remaining students were missing which was like four people absent. Souda had that gut feeling.

Yet like a dumbass, he wandered around the school by himself of all things.

He ran into a still depressed Hajime who said he was going to hang in his room. Then Akane who said she was going to train. He ran into everybody except for Leon. And that worried him. It wasn’t until he reached the rec room. He saw a bundle of red hair in a chair. Good, Leon’s safe, he was just chilling in the rec room.

“Leon? Hey what are you doing in here, I thought you what the-” Before he could finish his sentence. A knife plunged into his stomach. It happened too fast for him to even react. Whoever this was acted quickly on their feet. 

His vision went blurry, tears stinging his eyes as he fell to the ground trying to keep the blood in his body. However the hell that plan was going to work. 

Not even letting him gather himself or even have a grasp on reality, a hand snaked around his jaw. He saw a luchador mask and a white blanket? Coat? Who the heck is this?

“Urk!” He grunted in pain. Nothing could explain this pain except being stabbed. However, the person, the killer was merciless, they stabbed his shoulder, then his leg. Then his head was yanked up and the knife pressed down to his flesh.

“Ack! Ack! Ah! Ah!” 

Souda immediately flipped up in his bed holding his neck, choking on his own gasps for air, kicking his sheets. It took awhile to calm himself down a little bit. And by a while, a good 10 minutes. He got up from the bed and began pacing the room rapidly, cradling his face. Taking deep breaths of air.

Not good, not good at all, that's the second time he’s imagined himself dying.

He has to get it together, because this is making him lose sleep, hence his sanity as well. And no one is here to help him.

He’s starting to miss Leon believe it or not. Usually he’s the one to calm him down in his night terrors.

This situation is kind of haunting though...why the fuck would he have a dream about him? And then the scenario, people he knows dying? Then him dying himself? What the fuck? Is this some crazy symbolism or has he actually just lost his mind?

…

He hopes Leon’s okay. Just to make sure he sent a text to the punk rocker. He saw that he sleep texted Leon, who responded with a “????”. With the quickness, Souda apologized for him blowing up at him and said he was glad he’s okay.

Leon said nothing back.

Souda sighed out loud.

Maybe he’s asleep.

 

****

-x-

The door swung open.

“Oh…hey.” 

“Leon I need to talk to you.”

“Perfect timing, I was just about to storm up to Komaeda and Hinata’s apartment.” He had on a white baseball jacket, black ankle boots and black ripped skinny jeans. He did look like he was about to leave the house. Damn, now if Leon stormed up there demanding for Souda, that would've been a hot ass mess. Hinata first of all would've jumped in Souda's ass about Leon breaking down their door. Secondly Komaeda might've had his pyschotic episode and just kill everybody right then and there and then no one would've known what the fuck happened.

Anyways, Souda folded his arms, confused as to how Leon even knew he was staying with Hinata. “Uh, who the hell told you I was there?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Leon said waving his hand like it was no big deal. 

Souda furrowed his brows. Uh, no it is a big deal. Like, stalker much? He’s worried about how the hell he knows, but that’s besides the point. He’s here to talk about something else. “Uhm, mind if I come in?”

“Dude this is still your home...you ran out here remember, I didn’t kick you out.” He stepped to the side folding his arms.

“I know...I just...ugh…”

Leon scoffed and closed the door.

As soon as he entered the apartment, Souda ran straight for the couch and collapsed on the it. Leon laughed, “Tired?”

“Not even the beginning, exhausted, beyond human existence. My nightmare last night didn’t help either.”

“Was it one of those crazy ones where some dies and shit?”

Souda winced. 

Leon waved his hand, “Save the details of your weird ass dreams. I, however am just gonna come straight out with this.”

“With what?" Souda stopped and watched Leon's features grow from careless to tense. "Bro, why do you look so distressed?”

Leon sighed, “Uhm, Gundam has been two timing you with Sonia.”

Souda’s eyes bugged out his head. He stared at Leon, chuckling. “Bull...shit.” The punk rockers blue eyes were cast down to the ground. He didn’t even want to look at him. Then he finally did and shook his head,

"Really?"

“I have fucking proof. First it was a rumor...but now...man...I just know you’re going to lose it.”

Souda’s heart dropped. He started to get scared. 'Is this Leon just trying to plot for me to break up with Gundam?' he thought reassuringly.

“Well, what’s your proof?”

“Go to Gundam’s apartment.”

“....”

****

-x-

“Souda…?”

 

Gundam was standing in front of the pink haired man in a hamster kirugumi, dark circles around his eyes, black and white hair shuffled, and Chum-P’s replacement on his shoulder. Souda wanted to see if Leon was lying. He barged past the man and looked all around the place for evidence. He wants Leon to be wrong. 

“Souda? What’s wrong?” Gundam asked closing the door.

The mechanics eyes landed on a pink suitcase. That ain’t Gundams.

“Whose is that?” Souda pointed at the suitcase with a frown.

Gundam looked down at the suitcase. Realization occurring on his features. Then he looked back up at Souda. 

“Sonia’s.” he calmly responded.

Souda’s eyes widened with rage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what? It ain't abandoned ya'll, Dreaming still lives!  
> Himelia came in clutch and delivered! Thank you guys for your support. Each one of your comments and kudos kept me going to the point where I broke down and finished this chapter. <3
> 
> If there's grammatical errors I may go back and change them, but as for the time being Imma let it be in its pure gramatical error form. xD
> 
> I secretly love Leon so he's back, Mondo's loud ass is too. And more characters will filter into this mess. As you can tell. Hope's peak after high school drama and crap. 
> 
> But as for the future, I'm going to try my best to keep the chapters coming, not a year later tho LOL. Thats bad on my part, I'm sorry.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys like this chapter~ 
> 
> see ya next time~

**Author's Note:**

> First Fanfic GAH. I'm nervous but whatever. ; 3;  
> I hope you guys enjoyed it, I like writing Modern AU for this fandom, it feels natural. Anyways more is coming up soon!


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